Immigrant Experience Essay

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Immigrant Experience Denise M. Etzig HIS/125 July 21, 2013 Doreen Pauley Immigrant Experience As I look back at the journey that brought me to where I am today I am thankful. Not thankful for the perils I faced with my family, but that I have survived and managed to make a life with my family in this new place. My family’s decision to come to America, to escape the famine, was a difficult one, yet one of necessity. We were not among the lucky ones, who could afford first or even second-class passage. I spent months in the belly of the ship, sleeping on narrow bunks stacked three high. The food was horrible, barely warm soup, boiled potatoes, and stringy beef, but at least we ate. My mother would take us on deck to wash our hair, that was the only fresh air and sunshine we would see. The storms that whipped up on the ocean made me ill, rocking the ship to and fro. I was very happy to see the statue upon arriving at Ellis Island. That happiness was short lived once we left the ship. Long lines of people waiting to have their papers checked, and to be once again poked and prodded by doctors to make sure we would not bring disease into this new home. Some of those that traveled with us and became ill were sent back to their homeland, we were lucky. The journey from New York to Chicago were we are settled now was filled with anticipation. My father was worrisome that he would not find work right away however, a man on the train told him about work in the meat packinghouses there. The Days were long ten hours or more, and the pay was little for the hard work, only three hundred and twenty five dollars a year. For that reason, my mother and I worked piecework for a local clothing manufacturer. She brought the work home and we sewed by hand well into the night at times to make quota. She only received a few pennies per piece but it helped to put food on the table.

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