Immigration/Migration Narrative

Part I

Rosalie Queller Edwards (center)

Rosalie's Two Aunts (Left and Right)

July 1, 1923

Dear Abraham,

Hi, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in six years. I know that I had to leave after a week at your house. Even though it was a week that I knew you, I feel as if I have known you for years because you were the only person who played with me and calmed me down when I was still in Poland with you. I am 20 years old now, but at that time, I was still a small and scared 14 year old girl, so I want to thank you for everything. As you already know, I am currently in the United States, in a nice area in Queens, New York. I finally found some free time to write to you to explain everything, from why I was at your house and why I was rushed to be in America.

I do not think I have ever told you this, but I am from a small village in Russia that only had Jewish people like me. During this time, Russia had this hatred over us Jewish people, and pogroms to kill us have been organized because they made us scapegoats for the death of their former ruler: Alexander II. Being in a village, we were able to escape all this violence for years, until we have heard someone say that they spotted a large group of Russians coming our way. Once we heard this, we realized that we have to get out at that exact moment because the Russians would arrive in hours. My parents already had a plan created ever since they started hearing about the violence. They planned on going to the United States, where they heard that it was a place of endless opportunities and a place where life is always good.

My parents quickly explained to me that we had to get to the train tracks an hour away and get on it to get to Poland where there will be a ship that will get us to America. Therefore, me and my family, along with many others quickly grabbed what we can and left. We had pretty much nothing to begin with because we were very poor, but I still managed to grab a bag of clothes, some pieces of bread, and a teddy bear that my grandma gave me before she passed away. We quickly got out of our village and boarded a passing train that brought us to a Jewish part of Poland, which is where your family let us stay for a week until the ships depart. During the week, we had to wait for someone to help us write down some basic information about ourselves that we were instructed to give the officials when we arrived to America.

The crossing on the ship was probably one of the worst things I have ever experienced in my life. I did not expect it to be so crowded to the point that there was barely any room to even sit. Everyone was starving and many people got sick. There was this one time where the majority of the ship got a fever, but luckily none of my family members except my aunt contracted the illness. She was able to recover quickly, so it was not that much of a problem. What was a problem was the cleanliness of the ship, which was almost never cleaned. The smell was unbearable after a while because it was a mixture of vomit, feces, urine, and rotten food. Not only that, this crossing took about seven weeks and it made me very bored and homesick. However, when everyone on the ship saw what many people called the legendary Statue of Liberty, my eyes lit up because after being on a ship for so long, I couldn’t wait to be on land. With this feeling of excitement also came a feeling of fear because I did not know what to expect in this whole new place that I have to call home. It was such a memorable time that I still remember me wearing this blue dress with stripes that my mother made back in Russia very clearly.

When we arrived on Ellis Island, I suddenly got very nervous due to how I do not know what is going to happen from this point on. After the ship docked, we waited our turn to get off and get medically checked in order to become a part of the United States. The officials were scary to me because they kept touching people everywhere. After I passed the medical examination, another official checked the information on the document given to us before the crossing. The overall process was definitely very long, but my family was lucky to be near the front of the line, so we were able to be all done before the sky was dark. Overall, I thought the process was very smooth for me, but I saw some people who unfortunately was put into detention because their information was either wrong or suspicious. For me and my family, everything checked out and we were released into Manhattan, New York. As of June 10, 1917, my father, mother, both my aunts, and both my uncles have officially immigrated into the United States.

My family and I were eventually helped in finding our home, which was located in Baxter Street in Manhattan. Surprisingly, everyone there was Jewish too, hence the name “Jewtown”, so it felt somewhat like home. I was disappointed because the street was so crowded that it was hard to move around. In addition, the smell was so bad, even comparable to the ship, but not as bad. I could even see many people sick with smallpox because so many people had rashes all over their face. Just by seeing the overcrowdedness, it was no surprise to me how easily illnesses like smallpox spread. I eventually got smallpox too, but I was lucky enough to recover fully.

When we first arrived into our room inside a tenement building, I was even more disappointed because the room was so small that I don’t even know how it will fit the seven of us. Not only that, the walls and floors were black and there were insects everywhere. All I had left from Russia was my clothes and my grandmother’s teddy bear, and my family was not much better. We all had no food and barely any money, so at that point, I did not know how I would be able to survive. However, we were all tired from the long day, so we decided to worry about everything the next day.

When I woke up, my aunt has just returned with bread that she bought with the small amount of cash we had. After eating, my parents made me go to school, while they went to find jobs with my uncles and aunts to be able to pay rent and support ourselves. After going to school, I also went out myself to find a job, seeing how much my family seems to be struggling right now. Just like my aunts and mother, I was able to obtain a job in a factory making dresses. I made sure to save up the money that I earn so I can help my family when they really need it, but if not, I plan to use it to pay for nursing school.

Although working and living conditions were not the best, I still pushed on knowing one day life would get better. I still remember getting sick of bread everyday because it was the cheapest food item available. Moreover, I had almost no free time because right after school, I had to work. I had no time for fun because I would come back home exhausted everyday. However, this all paid off when I was able to go to nursing school, which I graduated from last year. Not only that, my father was able to take over a shoe company because his boss who retired liked him so much. With both of our incomes now, we were able to get out of the horrible tenement we were in and buy a nice small house in Queens, New York.

I am sorry for making you read such a long letter, but I just have so much to tell you. I just want to let you know that I do not regret immigrating to the United States because I do not have to fear for my life like I did in Russia. However, I am disappointed in how we started off because this country was really not a land of opportunities, but a land where you have to earn those opportunities. Therefore, all I did to get to this point of my life was to stay determined and not let anything stop me. That determination paid off because I get to live in a house that can actually hold nine people (one of my aunts just had twins). In addition, I have not been hungry or overly exhausted ever since. Once again, I want to thank you so much for letting us stay at your house for a little bit. If it weren’t for you, I do not know how my life would’ve played out today. Most of all, I hope I will get to see you very soon so we can tell each other our stories in person!

Sincerely,

Rosalie Queller Edwards

Jewish meal consisting mainly of bread

Inside a filthy tenement apartment

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Forbes, Ethan, et al. Russian Jewish Immigration 1880-1920. https://www.fitchburgstate.edu/uploads/files/TeachingAmericanHistory/RussianJews.pdf.

Kennedy, Lesley. “Most Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island in 1907 Were Processed in a Few Hours.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 21 June 2018, https://www.history.com/news/immigrants-ellis-island-short-processing-time.

Riis, Jacob A. How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York: with 100 Photographs from the Jacob A. Riis Collection, the Museum of the City of New York and a New Preface by Charles A. Madison. Dover Publications, 1971.

Part II

My mom (top left) at her grandmother's house after selling her own house for money to bring to America.

My mom was born in Guangzhou, China, which she considered home until she immigrated to the United States. Her name is Yan Ping, but when she came to America, she gave herself a nickname of Pansy. Born into a poor setting, my mom was fortunate enough to have enough food to not starve. She went to school and enjoyed doing what typical children do in China. However, she and her parents knew that living in China for the rest of their lives would not do them any good because for many years, they had no improvement in their lifestyle.

Therefore, when my mom’s uncle had the opportunity to become a citizen because the company he worked for needed him to stay put in America, my grandmother decided that it was time for her and her family to immigrate to America in search of better opportunities to make more money. My mom’s process of getting the paperwork necessary to come to America was complicated, and it all started with her uncle who was already in America at that time, who helped hire lawyers to get all the paperwork ready for my mom and her family to immigrate. While this process was happening, my mom packed everything should could and brought it over to her grandmother’s house because her father decided to sell their house so they can have some money to bring over to America. She remembered taking all her clothes, her jade necklaces, all the photographs in her house, and some snacks before she left. As sad as it was to leave the house she grew up in, my mom knew that it was going to be worth it in the end.

On November 24, 1989, it was finally time for my mom to come to America. She and her family were very emotional because they have to leave their home and many relatives behind. My mom even had to leave her little brother who was twelve at that time behind too because she wanted everything to get sorted out before they bring him to live with her and the rest of the family. Wearing her newest T-shirt and jeans, my mom, her mom, her dad, and her older brother, all boarded an airplane, which my mom’s uncle paid for, and it first flew them to Seattle. From Seattle they transferred to a different flight that brought them to New York City. My mom described the flight as very smooth and comfortable. However, she was very worried and scared of what is to come because she did not know a lot of English and she had to leave everything behind and start a new life that she did not even know if it would go well.

On November 25, 1989, my mom and her family finally arrived in New York City. She was at first overwhelmed by how different everything was in America. It was definitely a lot more busy and developed than where she came from. After arriving, her uncle brought them to his home where they stayed for the next few years. Their new home was an apartment in Chinatown that had a few small rooms, but there were not a lot of them, so it wasn’t too crowded. In addition, the buildings she lived in was not taken care of that much, so it was filthy because she could see mice and cockroaches just scurrying around from time to time.

Immigrating to America at age 24 was definitely not ideal because my mom did not know whether she should just work or go to school. She ended up choosing to go to a community college to major in accounting due to her love for math. However, after school, she also found a job as a clothes maker because she knew that she had to help support her family if they wanted to have a better life here. The working conditions she faced were not too rough and she was paid fairly, but she would come home daily exhausted due to the combination of school and work.

Through her work, my mom mainly saved up most of her money for her education and used the rest on food. She and her family’s meals were mostly rice and vegetables because it was the most filling for its price. While my mom did go to school and work a lot, she had the weekends off, which she spends on studying. Through studying and practicing, she was able to learn enough English to communicate efficiently with others. When she is not studying, however, she would have some fun with her older brother who also had the weekends off by playing cards and chess, which are two of my mom’s favorite activities even to this day.

Throughout my mom’s experience in the United States, she definitely had both things that she loves about here and things she was disappointed about. She loved the fact that her homes in America have hot running water, a luxury that she did not have in China. With hot running water, it saves a lot of her time because she doesn’t have to heat water on the stove to clean herself. What she is disappointed with is the crime around where she lived because thieves were always around stealing valuables and as someone who always went home late, she was constantly afraid walking through the streets. Moreover, she was also disappointed how almost everything outside Chinatown needed her to know English. Since she immigrated here at an older age, she knew it was a lot harder for her to learn a new language. Other than these, she was satisfied with her life in America. She came in expecting to find a better life for herself and her family, which was definitely achieved through her hard work. After settling in, she hoped that one day she would have a family of her own that would not have to struggle with money issues and have a better life than she ever did, she put aside her struggles and fears and continued to work hard to make her dream come true.

Her life as an immigrant in America does get significantly better through time. When she first arrived, she basically had nothing, but after graduating and getting a stable job, she was able to earn an actual living. A short moment after she would meet my dad, an NYPD police officer who immigrated here as a very small child, so he was very Americanized. Together, they bought a house in Queens and had two children who did not have to worry about growing up in a poor situation, like what my mom had to endure.