Essays on Immigration

by Bob Blaisdell (Editor)

"In America, everything was possible," recalls Louis Adamic of Slovenia. "There even the common people were 'citizens,' not 'subjects' . . . a citizen, or even a non-citizen foreigner, could walk up to the President of the United States and pump his hand. Indeed, that seemed to be a custom in America." 

The history and experience of immigration remain central to American culture, past and present. This anthology surveys the recollections of emigrants from around the world who sought new lives in the United States. Their stories range in mood and setting from the misery of an Englishman in colonial Virginia, bound by indentured servitude, to the cultural commentary of an Iranian woman in California. Poignant, eye-opening reflections include those of a Polish sweatshop laborer, a Chinese businessman, an Italian bootblack, and a Ukrainian musician, in addition to observations and reminiscences by Jacob Riis, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Díaz, and other well-known authors.

Richard Frethorne [England]: Letters from an Indentured Servant (1623) --
Gottlieb Mittelberger [Germany]: Journey to Pennsylvania (1754) --
Hector St. John de Crevecoeur [France]: What Is an American? (1782) --
Frank Lecouvreur [Prussia]: From East Prussia to the Golden Gate (1852) --
Emma Lazarus [United States]: The New Colossus (1883) --
Hans Mattson [Sweden]: Reminiscences: The Story of an Emigrant (1891) --
Sadie Browne [Poland]: The Life Story of a Polish Sweatshop Girl (1906) --
Lee Chew [China]: The Life Story of a Chinese Businessman (1906) --
Rocco Corresca [Italy]: The Life Story of an Italian Bootblack (1906) --
Jacob Riis [Denmark]: The Making of an American (1908) --
Abraham Rihbany [Syria]: Lights and Shadows (1914) --
Edward Steiner [Slovakia]: From Alien to Citizen (1914) --
Anna Hilda Louise Walther [Denmark]: A Pilgrimage with a Milliner's Needle (1917) --
Rose Cohen [Russia]: Out of the Shadow (1918) --
Edward Bok [Holland]: Where America Fell Short with Me (1922) --
Louis Adamic [Slovenia]: Amerikansi in Carniola (1932) --
Stoyan Pribichevich [Yugoslavia]: In an American Factory (1938) --
Andrés Aragon [Spain]: After the Death of Spain (1978) --
Nicholas Gerros [Greece]: Greek Horatio Alger (1978) --
Carlos Bulosan [Philippines]: My Education (1979) --
Edwidge Danticat [Haiti]: A New World Full of Strangers (1987) --
Vladimir Vernikov [Russia]: The ABC of a New Profession (1991) --
Dympna Ugwu-Oju [Nigeria]: Raising Delia (1995) --
Aleksandar Hemon [Yugoslavia / Serbia]: Door to Door (2001) --
Mela Tannenbaum [Ukraine]: A Musician's Journey (2002) --
Firoozeh Dumas [Iran]: Funny in Farsi: The "F Word" (2003) --
Junot Díaz [Dominican Republic]: Homecoming with Turtle (2004) --
Rose Castillo Guilbault [Mexico]: Farmworker's Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America (2005) --
Orubba Almansouri [Yemen]: University of Kitchen (2009)

Genres: History, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2012

About the author

Bob Blaisdell is a published adapter, author, editor, and an illustrator of children's books and young adult books. He teaches English in Brooklyn at Kingsborough Community College. He is a reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor and the editor of more than three dozen anthologies for Dover Publications. Email him at Robert.Blaisdell@Kingsborough.edu

Reviews

[Anna Kourim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me mixed feelings about many of the ways this country was built and how little it has truly changed….though I suppose much of history isn’t pretty of you look close enough. I did enjoy finding similarities in thought and personality among those who came before me.

[Fran Gerardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting. It consisted of actual excerpts from essays written by immigrants explaining their experiences when they first came to the US. Some were essays written before they left their country detailing their anticipation of coming to a new country and starting a new life.
The book starts at the end of the 1600s when indentured servants and slaves were brought over. Their stories were very different from the immigrants coming over in the early 21st century! It was interesting to read how each generation experienced a different America from the generation before. Some came to be farmers in the Midwest while others came during the time of the gold rush. Some came to escape poverty while others came to escape the entrapments of their government. It was interesting to read about the women who came recently and were given the opportunity of an education which was denied in their own country.

[Kathy Schouten · Rating 3 out of 5]

My granddaughter bought this book on a school trip to Ellis Island. The stories told by immigrants are in chronological order and we're all very interesting.