Historical Journal

Historical Journal

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Historical Journal

Journal Entry

Dear Journal,

I was tired of talking to myself through this sea sickening journey from Russia to the United States. My father and mother think that it is for the best as back home everything is becoming more suffocating by the day. I know I am only a 17-year-old boy but it feels like we have been enduring this pain for centuries. My parents are right in so many ways, the government authorized anti-Semitism became very severe as each day passed (Poole and Marsan). The little property and security that we had left back home were taken over by the programs staged by the czar's henchmen. Further, being a Jew did not do us any well, they would take away 25 years of a man's life by pushing them into fighting fruitless wars, with outdated weapons. This tactic was mainly to show and teach the people discipline. I have high hopes that I and my family’s life in America take a turn for the good.

My parents tell me that things are quite easier for us as opposed to the people in the past, the voyage that we were on hardly took one week long and now we are here in a country that will be our new home, hopefully. The journey was not as bad as I thought it would be, I thought I was going to catch my death when we first left. I am upset and I feel that I have abandoned my country in a way but America was our only hope to escape persecution. I will be living with my Uncle Boris in the lower east side of New York.

I have reached New York and as my ship stopped I could see many Americans surround the decks and looking at us. As I got down from the ship, my Uncle Boris called me out and embraced me in his arms (The Charter of New England, 2019). He took me with him to the big city and there it was, the warmth of the urban setting enveloping me like a kind embrace. It was my escape from all the discrimination, beating, poverty and prosecution that I saw in Russia.

It has been quite some time that things have been a little difficult. Life here is tough and I have to work to make ends meet and jobs here are not the easiest. There are many immigrants from Ireland as well, they chose to move to the United States after the potato blight which caused a massive Irish emigration. I can tell that the majority of the people living in New York are either immigrants or they are the children of the migrants. The apartment that I live in is very small, I share a room with my Uncle's son. Due to the massive immigration, most of the people live in apartment complexes and it can get a little cramped up.

This patch of life is hard-hitting but it gets tolerable every time Uncle Boris tells me about the contributions that were done by the immigrants. He tells me about Samuel Gompers, an immigrant from England who laid the foundation of the American Federation of Labor beginning in 1886. It felt good that immigrants had been aiding in the American economy, however, the gold rush era that concluded in the Chinese Exclusion of Act of 1882, made me think otherwise. One is bound to get second thoughts when it comes to such a scenario, what if there are bitter thoughts for my people as well? What if we cannot get by in this country? However, regardless of all the negativity, there is a lot more positivity as well which is making me look on the other side of the grass (Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), 2019). My journey as in immigrant to the United stated so far has been bitter-sweet and I hope it gets better as time passes.

Adrik.

References

No Irish need apply. Written by John F. Poole... H. De Marsan, Publisher, 54 Chatham Street, New-York. Monographic. [Online Text] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/amss.as109730/.

The Avalon Project : The Charter of New England : 1620. (2019). Avalon.law.yale.edu. Retrieved 27 August 2019, from https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/mass01.asp

Our Documents - Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). (2019). Ourdocuments.gov. Retrieved 27 August 2019, from https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47