When teaching a course on American diversity, Jessica Lander realized that to understand the complexity of justice-related policies and events in U.S. history, students needed to relate personally. She had students write personal reflections on what it means to be American, which dealt with issues from immigration journeys, learning a new language, to a student's role in a family enterprise. Stories were gathered into published books and Lander and several students launched We Are America: a project encouraging students across the U.S. to add their American histories.