Tag: Statue of Liberty

True Immigrant Stories_16: “It Was the Tombstone of Columbus”

March 12, 2014

[This is another firsthand immigrant account in a continuing series. This entry comes from Scottish travel writer Stephen Graham (1884-1975), who in 1913 left Liverpool, England, as a steerage passenger. This is an excerpt from his book, With Poor Immigrants to America (1914), in which he described events leading up to his inspection at Ellis … More True Immigrant Stories_16: “It Was the Tombstone of Columbus”

True Immigrant Stories_14: “I Was Weak in the Knees”

February 4, 2014

      [This is another firsthand immigrant account from my oral history collection.  Louis Adamic was a prominent Slovene-American writer who migrated to America in December 1913 at age 15.] “Now and then I glanced at the noisy, picturesque, garlicky crowd on the steerage deck; people of perhaps a dozen nationalities milling around the … More True Immigrant Stories_14: “I Was Weak in the Knees”

True Immigrant Stories_11: From Tipperary in 1920

December 10, 2013

[This is another in a series of firsthand accounts from my immigrant oral histories collection] “Like many more immigrants like myself, I came to this country to seek a living, because living over there [in Tipperary, Ireland] was very, very poor.  Work was scarce and hard.  I worked on a farm.  I would get up … More True Immigrant Stories_11: From Tipperary in 1920

True Immigrant Stories_1: The Statue of Liberty

September 3, 2013

[Throughout my career as a college professor, I have collected numerous firsthand accounts from immigrants about their journeys and first impressions and/or experiences in America.  This is the first of dozens immigrant oral histories i will post. I’ll begin with my favorite story, without any embellishment, about that wonderful symbol of who and what we … More True Immigrant Stories_1: The Statue of Liberty