Themes in American History

There is no other country in the world that is more closely associated with immigration than the United States of America. During the centuries millions of immigrants came to the USA. However, the peak of immigration to the USA took place in 20th century when 17.3 million of immigrants from all over the world came to America seeking a better life. Out of those, 90.4 percent of immigrants came from Europe. (qtd.Jackson). People immigrated to the USA for many reasons: some of them came because of the economic opportunities, while others sought political, religious and cultural freedom in the USA. Among those who searched for political and cultural freedom were Eastern European Jews who were persecuted, discriminated, and even murdered in their own countries. Though they faced tremendous difficulties on their way to America and encountered many barriers in the new country, they bravely met the challenges and felt happier and safer in the USA.

Most of the Eastern European Jews fled to New York City because of social contacts and established Jewish communities in this city. The first neighborhood in which Eastern European Jews settled was the Lower East Side that is now bounded to the north by 14th Street, to the east by the East River, to the south by Fulton and Franklin Street, and to the west by Pearl Street and Broadway. The Lower East Side was a home for many ethnic groups from all over the world during 20th century. The first pioneers from Europe to Lower East Side were Irish immigrants in the 1833, who settled the first tenements in the northern section along Bowery. Then German immigrants settled north of Houston Street in the 1840s. In the 1880s the Lower East Side welcomed immigrants from Italy, Jews from Eastern Europe, Russians, Romanians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Greeks and Poles. “By the 1900, the Lower East Side was not only an urban region of astonishing ethnic diversity but also the most densely populated place in the world” (qtd. in O’Donnell). However, the largest and the most influential ethnic group on the Lower East Side was the Eastern European Jews that constituted a population of 400.000 in 1920 (Jackson 769).

The immigration of Eastern European Jews to the USA in 20th century had many motives. But the main reasons were the discrimination, persecution, fear and economic problems they faced in their native counties. There were also restriction on Jewish religion, education and professional activities. Jews were not allowed to work in agriculture and were compelled to make a living as craftsmen and peddlers. Hence, many Jews experienced a fear of being rubbed, beaten or even murdered by Anti-Semites during that period in Eastern Europe. For example, in Russia a government conducted the “Pogrom” and the “Russification program” that were purposed to destroy Jews as an ethnical group. (qtd. in Vogelsang). Hundreds of Jewish villages and neighborhoods were burned and thousands of Jews were murdered by soldiers and peasants.

Thus, a lot of Jews who had been discriminated and persecuted in Eastern Europe found asylum in the USA. They faced many challenges on their adventure to America. Many immigrants were poor, so they travelled in the lowest class, where hundreds of people were crowded in the steerage of the ship or third class passengers. The journey to America took about two weeks. The living conditions on the steamships were terrible and unsanitary. Many people died on their way due to tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.

At first, immigrants arrived to Ellis Island in New York City where they passed through the immigration processing center. After being tested for glaucoma and influenza they were released to the big city alone. The majority of European Jews remained in New York City and concentrated on the Lower East Side. The reason they chose that neighborhood was mainly to stay close to their neighbors from the old villages who settled down on the Lower East side before them. Another important reason was strict religious practices of Orthodox Judaism that required them to live near an existing Jewish community.

"Orchard Street, Lower East Side"

Many immigrants experienced financial problems. They had some money to  live   out just a few days in NYC. Furthermore, they faced many challenges in their search for work since they didn’t speak or understand English well. Also, because they had been barred by law from agricultural jobs in the old countries, they brought a limited set of skills that decreased their chances to find an employment in a wide range of jobs. Most of the Jewish immigrant on the Lower East Side worked in the garment industry. They usually worked in their tiny airless apartments in tenements, where women, teenagers and children worked long hours sewing clothing for pennies per piece. In 1892 a reporter for the Century newspaper who visited some of the garment workers of New York said, “They [Jewish Immigrants] toil from six in the morning until eleven at night. Fifty cents is not an unusual compensation for these murderous hours. Trousers at 84 cents per dozen, 8 cents for a round coat, and 10 cents for a frock coat, are labor prices that explain the sudden affluence of heartless merchants manufacturers, and the biting poverty of miserable artisans” (qtd. “Polish/Russian immigration”).

Peddling was another type of work that Jewish immigrants mastered, giving them opportunity to make their living without being discriminated against as it was in their native countries.

The living conditions of most immigrants on the Lower East Side were horrifying. This neighborhood was always crowded and noisy. As it was said before, by the year 1900 the district was densely packed with more than 700 people per acre that made the Lower East Side the most crowded neighborhood in the world. (qtd. “Polish/Russian Immigration”). Most families lived in small apartments in tenements buildings. Usually immigrant families had many children and they lived all together in small apartments of 1 or 2 rooms. As the reformer Jacob Riis described a visit to one of the tenements building on the Lower East Side said:

“I have found in three rooms father, mother, twelve children, and six boarders. They sleep on the half-made clothing for beds. I found that several people slept in a subcellar four feet by six, on a pile of clothing that was being made.” (qtd. Riis).

Overcrowding led to many hazards such as fires that often happened in the Lower East Side. Lack of clean water and infectious diseases took the lives of many people. However, the barriers the Eastern European Jews faced in the Lower East Side were relatively safe compared to dangerous Anti-Semitic Eastern Europe where they were under the fear of being persecuted or even murdered.

Once Jewish immigrants made money, they opened up their own garment shops and other businesses such as kosher restaurant, bakeries and delis. They even originated entrainments such as Yiddish theater, Vaudeville, and Burlesque on the Lower East Side. Education was very important for Jewish immigrants. As they were not permitted to attend schools in their old countries, many Jewish children were sent to the schools to get education. When there was a big and stable enough community of Jewish immigrants they opened self-help societies where they donated money to help those in needs and to newly arrived Jewish immigrants. They also opened synagogues where they could spend their traditional Sabbath and yeshivas where they sent their children to learn Hebrew and Torah. Thus, Eastern European Jewish immigrants have created their own subculture on the Lower East Side in New York City and successfully integrated into the American society by becoming a part of the big melting pot.

By the 1960s most Eastern European Jewish immigrants moved out of the Lower East Side due to the rise in crime and drug dealers in the neighborhood. However, there is one place left that preserved the life of Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side. The Tenement Museum that is located on 97 Orchard Street was once a tenement where Jewish immigrants lived. The word tenement came from Latin verb “tenere” that meant property. The immigrants adopted this word and used it to mean a shared building with multiple housing units. (qtd. Horn)

The Tenement Museum has five floors and four apartments on each floor.

Kitchen view in Tenement Museum

Each apartment consists of three rooms: a front room, a bedroom, and a smaller kitchen area. There is only one window in the whole apartment. During the 1900s the only toilet was an outhouse and was used by all tenants from the entire building. Then, in 1935, the landlord closed his building and evicted all its residents because he wasn’t able to pay for a toilet in each apartment as city law later demanded. The tenement on 97 Orchard Street remained vacant for about fifty years, until Ruth Abram, a historian, and the museum’s founder established the Tenement Museum. (qtd. Horn).

Today the Lower East Side which was one of the most diverse and poor neighborhoods in the city is replaced with luxury buildings, fine dining and collections of fancy boutiques.

Thus, New York City, the Lower East Side in particularly, became a home for many Eastern European Jews in 20th century. They came here for one reason mainly, to escape persecution and discrimination in their native countries. However, moving to another country was not an easy event in their lives. They encountered many challenges and barriers on their way. But most Jewish immigrants didn’t fear those difficulties and courageously came to the country of freedom and independence. They changed their lives and lives of their offspring, and became a part of the diverse and multinational country free of persecution and discrimination.

Work Cited

Horn, Dara. “The Tenement Museum.” American Heritage 51.2(2000)

Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

Jackson, Kenneth T. The Encyclopedia of New York City. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New Haven: Yale UP, 2010. Print.

O’Donnell, Edward T. “THE ETHNIC CRUCIBLE.” Journal of Urban History 32.1 (2005): 138-146. America: History & Life. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. United States.

Library of Congress Home. “Polish/Russian Immigration.” Library of Congress Home, 08 July 2004. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

Vogelsang, Peter. “Anti-Semitism. XIX Century.” The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 6 Feb. 2002. Web. 28 Apr. 2011

Weinfeld, David. “At the Edge of a Dream: The Story of Jewish Immigrants on New York’s Lower East Side, 1880-1920.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 27.1 (2008): 89-90.

America: History & Life. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

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