Undocumented

In his autobiography, Undocumented: A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League (2015), Dominican American author and classics professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta traces his early childhood, from his family’s roots in Santo Domingo to his early struggles, and later successful life in New York City. Along the way, Peralta cares for his mother while she is pregnant, and later, helps to raise his brother in the Bronx, enduring a long stretch of homelessness. Going on to become a student, then a professor at Princeton, he has been described as “one of the best classicists to emerge in his generation.” A book full of optimism, Undocumented illuminates the unique challenges that face families who immigrate to America, as well as their great strengths in surmounting them.

Peralta begins his autobiography at the age of four when he first came to New York from the Dominican Republic. His family immigrated without visas because they were desperate to find better medical care for Peralta’s mother during her pregnancy. Peralta’s family enrolled him in school and found a small apartment in the Bronx. Peralta’s earliest memories of New York were some of his most trying. He recalls the first time that he realized, with surprise, that his family was poor: previously, in the Dominican Republic, he had thought of them as well off. There, they were white-collar employees; in America, however, they had no legal ability to work. As a result, they could only take on the lowest-paying jobs.

Peralta’s family ended up staying in New York due to his mother’s health complications, which were exacerbated by childbirth. Due to their financial struggle, his father moved back to Santo Domingo. Peralta’s remaining family included his mother, Maria, and brother, Yando. Yando was the only member of the family who was able to receive public assistance due to the fact that he was born in the United States; as a result, the family subsisted on a meager welfare income. Soon enough, they lost their hold on permanent housing and were out on the streets. They found a shelter where conditions were extremely unsanitary. Peralta recalls showering with his shoes on to avoid stepping into human waste. Peralta also compartmentalized his home and school lives around this time; school, and literacy in general, became a refuge for him.



Peralta credits two major influences with helping him through this tough time in the shelters. The first was Father Mike, or “Pops,” a pastor at the Resurrection Church in the Bronx. The other was a young photographer and artist, Jeff Cowen, who spent time working with homeless youth. Jeff motivated Peralta to apply for scholarships to a prestigious private school called Collegiate. He also helped him get into a summer program called “Prep for Prep,” which gave his education, and his escape from poverty, a daily continuity. At Collegiate, Peralta delighted in the more rigorous coursework; however, he started to see, with ever more clarity, the gulf between him and his privileged white peers. His classmates also teased him with racist and sexist jokes. At Collegiate, Peralta first developed his passion for the classics with the help of his Latin and Greek teacher, Dr. Russell.

After Collegiate, Peralta was accepted into Princeton. He thrived there and became known as one of the class’s most formidable minds. In his senior year, he finally felt comfortable coming out as an undocumented immigrant. He revealed this while he addressed his class as the salutatorian, the same week in which he was profiled by the Wall Street Journal. Peralta does not take full credit for his success; at the end of the autobiography, he reiterates his thanks to the people who helped him along the way and asserts that undocumented immigrants have a right to pursue a good education and everything else included in the American Dream.