J  People have been journeying here to the Lansing area for centuries. The first people who came and found the land of the "Big Bend" were the Native American Tribes of Potowatomi and Ojibway or Chippewa as they were later known. Tribal peoples often chose this area as summer encampments where land produced summer crops of vegetables, and the forests yielded fruits and berries, as well as medicinal herbs and other materials that were used in their nomadic lives. As an integral part of their lifestyle, a sense of stewardship as well as an abiding kinship existed among these first people, the land and other living creatures.

Next to the land came Voyagers and European explorers. Once Lansing had been named as the new state capital of Michigan in the mid-19th Century it still remained only lightly inhabited until the 1880's and 90's when roads were better built and the area around Lansing became more inviting. With the onset of the 20th Century, and a growing industry of foundry and factories of the fledgling auto industry, immigrant populations were on the rise. Lansing saw a blooming population primarily among the Italian, Hispanic, and Afro-American people.

Unlike the experiences of Italian immigrants who remained in the larger cities of New York and Chicago, Lansing had no "Little Italy", a ghetto neighborhood. People came here as a result of having made contact with family members who preceded them and were able to provide assurances that work and housing were available. Once here, the Italians made a community for themselves primarily on the east side of Lansing.

Settling primarily on the west side of Lansing was the Hispanic community. The came here beginning in the 1920's and 30's and found work for the sugar beet companies who often sought out workers here by setting up shop in Texas. Mexican-Americans came here often as migrant workers at first, living in the less than adequate housing provided by the company, then returning to their families in Texas and Mexico. Eventually however, a permanent community took root.

Brought here also by a dream of providing a better life for their families than the oppressive life of share-croppers of the deep South, many African-Americans came to Lansing only to find beginning jobs as day laborers and service positions in the homes of well to do white families. Still, they persevered and established thriving communities on the North and West sides of Lansing.

The last quarter of the 20th Century has seen no end to the blessings and promises for growth and well being to many immigrants from new and often little known corners of our planet. During the 50s and 60s when Eastern Europe was struggling under the weight of communist governments, Lansing opened its doors to people seeking refuge from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany and closer to home, Cubans fleeing the Castro regime. The 70s brought more families seeking political asylum from wars in Southeast Asia. Mhong and Vietnamese families added their culture to those already established in the city. Keeping with a long religious practice of working with refugee populations, both Lutheran and Catholic Social Services have continued to provide help to those from other lands seeking to establish new roots in our Michigan community. Lansing continues to see new faces from other places like Sumalia, South Africa, Bosnia. The beginning of the 21st Century also welcomed a group of very special youths called the Lost Boys of the Sudan. However, Lansing hospitality assures that here they will feel "found" and honored as the newest of Lansingites.