5-9-10

Today was a very interesting day. To begin, Dr. O’Donnell was discussing immigration and reaffirmed something that I have heard before, and of which I teach. He said that around 98% of incoming immigrants did not get turned away from Ellis Island (and that many who were turned away found their way into the United States through other means). He also mentioned that most immigrants only spent approximately three hours at Ellis Island. His point was that the tenements that we were about to visit were much more important (although he said Ellis Island was still tremendously important) in the big picture of immigration and settlement in New York City. The amount not turned away and the time spent at Ellis Island reaffirms my belief that comparing those immigrants to immigrants today fails in many contexts. The legal immigration process, today, can take several years, thus the comparison is not logical, although many still try to make it (e.g. – my family came here legally, why can’t others…). This does not negate the problems involved with illegal immigration into the United States today; it just means that I feel that the comparison of immigrants to Ellis Island (and the millions of immigrants to Castle Garden from 1855 to 1890; and immigration prior to record-keeping and regulation; and immigrants prior to there being a United States) is not comparable.

Castle Garden- Ney York City

Dr. O’Donnell also brought up a point that I will try to remember for my U.S. History classes- he reminded us that Tammany Hall, as corrupt as it was, still did a lot of good. I knew this, but his reminder that this was before a welfare system (other than charities and churches) was important.

I was very excited to go to 5-Points. I had asked Dr. O’Donnell if we could go there a couple days ago and he said we were not going there—he said there was not much there other than saying one had been there. As someone of very mixed European descent, but more Irish than other, it was important to me.

Chatam Square was a great reminder of the many ethnicities who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

The Lin Ze Xu (Lin Zexu) statue in Chatam Square was also very instructive. It is good to see a statue depicting a Chinese opponent to the Western Nations’ forced Opium Trade honored in the United States. I believe that is a part of our history that we have tried to “sweep under the rug” so-to-speak.

I also need to remember the Coconut Grove Fire that Dr. O’Donnell mentioned when I speak about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.

We went to lunch at Katz’s Deli and I had the Pastrami. I usually am not a huge fan of pastrami, but this was delicious.

Finally we went to the Tenement Museum. This was an amazing way to make the tenements more real to me. I have wondered what a tenement was since I was a little boy and I heard Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence Maybe the most important song to me ever…). I teach about the tenements (and we had them in Pueblo) but this makes it much easier to convey them to my students. 97 Orchard Street will change the way I teach.