The first time Kathie Friedman taught a class about immigration, in 1991, she assigned her students to write a fictional story for their final project. None of them were immigrants, or even knew any immigrants, so they were tasked with estimating what the newcomer experience might be like. "I said, 'It's gotta be feasible, you need to do research. But you can create your characters,'" Friedman, an associate professor in the Jackson School, recalled.