Craig Amason will be presenting a paper on Saturday morning, September 24 at the annual Ozarks Studies Symposium at the Civic Center in West Plains, organized and produced by Missouri State University – West Plains.

“The Impact of Immigration in McDonald County in the 21st Century” will chronicle the significant increase in ethnic diversity in the county’s population over the last 25 years. Immigrants and refugees from Central and South America, Somalia, Sudan, Micronesia, and Myanmar have settled into the county, primarily attracted by employment at the chicken processing facility in the small town of Noel. The largest portion of the county’s immigrant population is Hispanic, but the influx of people from Africa and Oceania has created a unique community by comparison to most of rural Missouri in the Ozarks.

The paper explores how people of various ethnic backgrounds found their way to McDonald County. It also illustrates the impact their presence has had on the economic, political, social, and religious fabric of the county and how they are continuing to adjust to life in southwest Missouri. This topic is especially relevant considering that Tyson announced in early August that it will be closing its processing operation in Noel in October, 2023.

This paper is based on a study funded by a 2022 Center for Missouri Studies Fellowship, a program of the State Historical Society of Missouri.