They Come Into America Part 1

Ellis Island, in the early part of the 20th Century, was a world unto itself. Rather, it was a New World for those arriving. The washing off of an old life, mixed with the cleansing of a new one. There was the promise of America, that far away magic land that Europeans had heard about and relished going to. These people were seekers, wanting to make the new land they were arriving at a success. Many who came over were carrying a new life inside of them. Their babies would be born in this country, a fine omen for them....... If a woman went into labor upon arriving on this shore, there was immediate medical help available. But, it wasn't much help. There might be some middle-aged doctor, a little past his prime, to administer to the sick or pregnant, but, the doctor might not be competent enough to save lives. Mostly, the doctors tending the immigrants would be young medical students, some newly graduated from college, and, some still attending school. The immigrants never knew this. All they wanted was someone to help with their suffering. Especially, the pregnant women. If a woman was ready to give birth, the mother and unborn child would be hustled into a small, airless room. The doctors, hopefully, would be able to deliver the child healthy and alive. But, this could be a tall order because of the long passage across the Atlantic Ocean and all of the shipboard diseases that would be swirling around the young mother. Typhoid was the prime killer. It must be remembered that any seaward trip was loaded with danger. Many ships, leaky in steerage and structure, simply went under the waves, becoming the honored dead of the ocean. To be pregnant on a ship was to have the odds stacked against you. The Ellis Island doctors were aware of this and knew that they had to fight time, lest a child, or mother, or both, perish......... It would be hard births. Certainly, childbirth is no walk in the park in modern times with the finest medical equipment and staff standing ready. For an immigrant in these early times, it was horrific. The best instrument a doctor could use would be a pair of hastily made forceps. The instrument, boiled in, hopefully, clean hot water would be used to control the fetus in the birth canal. Many babies were positioned correctly to be born. That was the luck of the draw, as most medical people knew. And, yet, many immigrant mothers seemed to have the baby backwards, with the behind first. The forceps would prove to be the only hope a woman would have that the child would not die in the womb or be disfigured. There was no decent anesthetic, only the handy bottle of ether administered through an inhaler. That was it in terms of the instruments. A woman, no doubt terrified and delirious with pain, would put her welfare into the hands of a stranger to give life.......... If the patient had some allergic reaction to ether, then the oldest means for dealing with the enormous pain would be used: biting on a piece of wood. The Ellis Island doctors had many pieces of lumber lying around, with big teeth indentations to show for its constant use. The poor woman, delirious with pain, would bite when told to. Naturally, there was the added problem of the language barrier. The doctors spoke English, the mothers spoke anything but. Still, somehow, these miracle men would convey the innate decency and compassion to the mother. Next to medical expertise, this has always been the most valuable gift a doctor can have. The woman would follow the doctors instructions. A trust would develop between them. And, hopefully, a child would arrive in the world, born healthy and alive. Picture a woman, after living through the trauma of natural childbirth, holding on to her newborn. The baby is crying. The new mother is crying. And, the doctor is, also. They are crying for the miracle of life, the continuation of the human lineage of life. And, the mother, enjoying life's greatest experience, gazes out of a window. The child was born in this new country, the land of life's greatest possibilities and dreams fulfilled. They baby is an American.......... Various ethnic groups came to the land of milk and honey during the early years of this country. Almost every nationality fought in the wars that this country raged, be it against a foreign land or internally. Many brave men and women shared a history of achievement and successes. They also shared heartbreaking failure and crushing defeat. To say that one ethnic or religious group suffered more than another is liking keeping score of life's unfairness. Every group suffered. But, they also shined and prospered.......... THE ITALIANS:..... The largest arrival of immigrants around the Ellis Island years came from Italy. Mostly, southern Italy. They were mostly farmers and unskilled laborers, seeking a brand new start. They were escaping a life of poverty and prejudice in their own country. Some were wanted by the law, some were men coming over who would send for their family later on. But, most arrivals were Italian men and women who desperately wanted a new start in life. To go from the poverty of their home country to the poverty of a new country did not deter them. Of all of the ethnic groups that came to America, the Italians were the most dedicated to changing their lives, and, more importantly, the lives of their children. The biggest problems facing these people were that they were unskilled, which made it difficult to market themselves in the workplace. Therefore, they took the most menial jobs offered. Men dug ditches, paving roads, and building projects. Some of those projects later developed into permanent landmarks. The Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Terminal, among them in New York. And, the next time you ride a subway, think that the Italians built them. But, most Italians stayed working in their neighborhoods, the famous Mulberry Street. There were street vendors hawking the latest products, grocers selling you tasty food from the Old Country, barbers to make you look fashionable. Small businesses flourished and enriched the local economy. Women even got into the action, for Italian women traditionally ran the household but were not afraid to get out and make an honest dollar. They worked in the garment districts. They were mid-wife's. They taught school. All of these achievements while running a successful home. And, this was no small feat. Because the Italians lived in squalor on Mulberry Street. They were living in the notorious district known as The Bend area. This area, a huge ghetto, forced many people in very small tenements to live like animals. While hard working and industrious with their work habits, the Italians were still at the mercy of poverty. Diseases and death were the norm. A good third of the children born during these years did not survive. Famine was the main reason, poor medical care a close second. And, rat bites. Children often fought off the rats as they slept. Naturally, horrible living conditions bring out the exploiters of human suffering. Around this time came what became known as the ''Black Hand''. This was the early version of the local Mafia. These scum would bleed their people, literally, out of whatever honest wages that were earned. Faced with the choice of staying honest and hard working but still poor, or, going along with the ''Black Hand'', many Italian men chose the latter. Gangs developed, along with a crime wave. You could not go to the police because of the centuries practiced ''omerta'', or code of silence. One did not rat, even if rats were crawling on your children. Italians on Mulberry Street also embraced their long history of religion, the Catholic Church. Denied by prejudice the right to pray in the American churches, the Italians built their own houses of worship. They also built clubs for their love of culture--- particularly, opera and fine works of art. Many street festivals celebrating life and food [food is next to God and family for Italians] rang out into the streets. People sat on steps in front of their tenements, drinking wine, breaking bread, and laughing and arguing to great success. Singing,, dancing, and dreams of a better life filled these pastimes. Through hard work and ambition, the Italians promised themselves that their children would have a better life in America. They would grow up to be doctors and lawyers and big businessmen and politicians and athletes. They impressed upon the children the importance of education and responsibility. The world of the Italian adult of today was planned on the Italian children for tomorrow. And, it was a roaring success, as children left The Bend and went on with their lives, creating dynasties of their own. Some left by getting their hands dirty but most left with clean hands, bringing forward the proud Italian heritage........ THE IRISH:......After the Italians, Mulberry Street boasted the Irish as the second most populated ethnic group. Irish immigrants had the same rough start as all nationalities that come to this country. They were poor. Dirt poor. Almost immediately upon arrival on American soil, way back in time with their British counterparts, the Irish had prejudice thrown against them by the natives. Other than blacks, no other group was so maligned with hate then the Irish. Partly, because of their strong Catholic heritage. The Irish were solidly on the side of the Church. The mass migration came in the middle 1800's with the famous Potato Famine in Ireland. In a nutshell, the Famine was just another name for poverty and starvation, wrapped up in a cute nickname. Upon arrival in the United States, the Irish were entrapped in the horribly violent area of town known as the ''Five Points.'' This area, plain and simple, was the Old West moved East. The street gangs and their crimes defied all logic. Although they were a minority, the gangs polluted the surrounding areas with such gleeful vengeance that honest, hard working Irish people were terrified. Cut throats, burned property, killings in cold blood became a way of life. Everywhere there seemed to be dirt and filth. They also were the victims of overcrowding in tenements, and, like the Italians, saw a tremendous amount of infant deaths. The poor lived in basements lacking natural light and ventilation. Diseases ran the spectrum from cholera to tuberculosis to pneumonia to mental illness. Also, with this crushing way of life came alcohol abuse, in very large numbers. The Irish workers were mostly unskilled, as most foreigners are. And, being so, made them fodder for greedy exploiters who made the work for them. The wages, what there were of them, were very low. But, they had the famous ''Irish Spirit'', the ability to plow through any obstacles that life threw at them. They sent their kids to schools, for like their rival Italian neighbors, they also wanted better for their children. They taught tolerance against prejudice, to ignore the signs of ''No Irish Need Apply'', that was so prevalent in homes and businesses. The men became factory workers, worked on roads, built buildings, blacksmiths, stonemasons, did the shit work that no one else would do. The women became maids in prominent homes, where they were treated with contempt and abused---- some were sexually abused because of the power of their employers to get away with a crime. They kept their plucky spirit and impishness for life alive with music, dancing, tall tales of the homeland of Ireland, and watching out for each other. Eventually, through hard work and pluckiness of an internal spirit, they would overcome their lots in life and the children would grow up to be policemen, politicians, movers and shakers in the business world, teachers, etc. But, they never lost who they were and where they came from. The Irish of today are the salt of the Earth. And, that salt came from those brave who came before them. If there is some other saying to go with the Irish----- and they lead the world in sayings!--- it is ''You Will Never Break Us, Whatever You May Give Us!''........ The Germans that arrived here from the Fatherland possessed a hardiness that eclipsed other cultures. They were people of the land, the heartiest of hearty souls. Germans have been rightfully celebrated for their firm dedication of using their enormous persuasive charms to do an honest days pay. Like most immigrants, they were dirt poor, the slaves of the entitled rich aristocracy that governed them. They specialized in farming, the early morning heroes who fed a nation. German people are of strong backbone and character. And, physical specimens, for, who could plow the land, milk the cows, and still contribute to the burgeoning industrial revolution better than they? Germans led by example, a trait running as deep in their bloods as their love for family. They knew poverty here, for poverty does not discriminate. They knew religious persecution. Most German immigrants settled in already established German communities. But, there were skirmishes among the new and the old German people. The ''New'' German were outspoken, impatient in their turn in line to get ahead. They often clashed with the ''Old'' German people, the ones who lived quiet lives and did not make waves. Internal fighting erupted among the groups, with the young triumphing over their elders. Germans were among the first ethnic groups to publicly support the abolishment of slavery and proudly fought on the Union side in the Civil War. In fact, 1/4 of the Union fighting troops were of German heritage. After the war ended, German immigration far exceeded any other ethnic group in coming to America. And, as the years went on, Germans helped grow an America that appreciated their blood, sweat, and tears. That is, until the World Wars showed its ugly face in the 20th Century. These tragedies in human folly tested the mighty reserve of the German people, with prejudice inflicted on daily life on a regular basis. Some Germans would have to change their last names because of the abuse from others. But, even though they had evil incarnate with Hitler, the German people never lost whom they really were and the metal that they were cut from. German culture can viewed in everyday life, their riches enlivening daily pleasures. They boast the big companies, be they ''Bayer'', ''Heinz'', ''Chrysler'', ''Budweiser''. The next time you devour a hot dog or a pretzel, think German............