This Diary is Property of Abigail Aaron
My name is Abigail Aaron, I am 14 and immigrated to New York from Russia with my mother, Alona and eight year old brother, Adam. We left Russia because the people in our village were threatening to kill us for being Jewish. If my father, Ivan, was here this would’ve never happened. He was almost 7 feet tall and built like an axe man. Sadly, he was killed in the war, I guess size doesn't matter if there are guns involved. My mother feared for our lives, so she decided to move us here, in hopes of a better life. She heard from one of her cousins here that we would be safe and found us work as seamstresses. I was excited to journey to a new place until we got on the steamship. We had to stay in something called a steerage in the bottom of the ship for the 10 excruciating long days. Some of the people were very sick and ended up dying. My mother tried to distract Adam, but he knew very well what was going on. I distracted myself by practicing my sewing for the seamstress job that was waiting for me and my mom in Manhattan. When the bodies started to smell some of the men did a prayer then threw their bodies into the ocean.
When we got to Ellis Island we had to wait in long lines for several hours to be checked for the plagues, cholera, smallpox, measles and scarlet fever, after that they made sure all of our papers were in order, luckily they were and we were able to go into the city. A nice man gave us a ride to where we would be living for 20 cents. Our new address is 178 Ludlow St, New York, NY. We live in a tenement building that has about 20 rooms but easily 200 people live here. Our apartment has 2 rooms, 1 bedroom and 1kitchen/bathroom. We didn't have much to unload when we got here due to the fact, the people in our town started stealing or burning our clothes and valuables while we were out. The only thing I made sure I brought was my dad’s chai necklace.
Me and my mother were set to work in two days, and she asked me to go out with my brother to help him find a job so he could contribute rent money. I put on a beige knee length dress with a flower pattern and lace trimmings on the hem and black slippers and my brother wore sailor shorts accompanied with a shirt that had a sailor collar and knickerbockers. We figured the better we looked the more likely he would find work. We went all up and down the Lower East Side looking for work until we came across a barbershop that needed a boy to sweep hair. They hired him on the spot. My mom gave us a nickel to get a snack before we came back home. I bought me and Adam ice cream and we started walking back home. On the way we saw a group of kids playing in front of an open fire hydrant. They looked like they were having so much fun, so we joined them. We had a great time, but we were scared of what mom would say when we got home so wet and in our best clothes. When we got home, mom was trying to clean the place the best she could before she prepared dinner. She started laughing as soon as she saw us soaking wet and we couldn't help but to laugh too.
It was finally our first day of work and this was the first time I’d seen a calendar in weeks or months. The date was March 24, 1919 and it was chilly outside for a spring day. My mom received a wage of three dollars a week and I received two per week. My mom informed me that the wage was pretty good pay for immigrants. My brother made about 1 dollar a day and my mom said she thought we’d just barely make rent but that was fine. It's time for me to go to sleep but I’ll be back with an update soon enough.
We’ve been living in New York for about three months now and I can honestly say I’ve never been so happy in my life. I expected to find safety in America, but I’ve gotten so much more. The Jewish community here has really taken our family in and helps us with anything we might need, and we do the same for them. I’ve made a lot of friends through the factory and appreciate the diversity of our neighborhood. Most of the money I make goes into the rent, but I’ve been saving up to get fabric to make my own dresses. The only thing I’m sad about is my dad not being here to share our new life with us, but I know the only reason for our good fortune is because he’s been watching over us.
Battling Against Heavy Odds. Riis, Jacob A. 1902. The Battle with the Slum, www.bartleby.com/175/1.html.
“Living Conditions.” IMMIGRANTS IN 1900's NEW YORK CITY, immigrants1900.weebly.com/living-conditions.html.
Jean-Pierre's Journey
My father Jean-Pierre Sienke Djomalieu immigrated to the United States by himself at 25 years old from Cameroon on October 1st, 1985. He decided to come to the states to further his education and find better opportunities. He moved to D.C because one of his cousins was already here and they would be roommates. My dad was brave enough to move to a completely new continent with only $1250 to his name. He had to pay for the International Language Institution because he only spoke french and his tribal dialect, which was Bafong. Even though he was staying with family, my dad still was responsible for rent and food. It was very difficult for him to find employment in a place that speaking english wasn’t a requirement. He finally found work as a dishwasher 4 months after arriving as a dishwasher in a Mexican restaurant. The language institution was $500 a month so once he ran out of money he was forced to leave prematurely. He still didn't know how to speak english well so he signed up for night school at one of the local highschools to get his GED. After a year he received his GED and applied to the University of District of Columbia to get his bachelors.At this point he was proficient in english but still had to take ESL courses at the university. He took summer classes to graduate sooner.
Once he received his bachelor's degree from UDC he applied to American University in 1990. During this time he transitioned from odd jobs to working at The World Bank as a security guard. He met my mom on his first day of work there, she was a security guard as well. In 1992, he graduated from American University with a master’s degree in Information Systems. My dad received a job shortly after graduating AU to be a consultant and eventually became a full time staff member. My parents married on April 12th, 1997 and my brother, Paul, was born shortly after in August. They bought our house in 1999 and three short years later their last child was born and they named her Tiffany-Jolie Djomalieu Missembe.
