M an yjewish peoplecametotheU ni tedSta tesat th is
time.Inthe18XfkJ ew swerebeingkilledallover
easternEurope illbloodymassacrescalled
"pogroms. ,.Mall)'tho usands escapedbyleavingfo r
rhcUnited Stares. LeonStein wasth eSOilo f o neo f
them .Many)'t'USla terhe explainedw hy his father,
despi t eth e hard shipthathe sufferedinAmerica.had
wan tedtolin't here :
. th e cxploirano»oflabor ' vasfearfu l and m y
fa th erw ashavi nga te r ri bletime. H e wasjustgett in g
by,m akin ga livin gworkingtwel veto four teen
hours a d ay. A ndh e was s uffe ringlike a coal m in er
suffer s.becau sein the sweat -sho ps (cloth ing
facto ries], at that time,in s tead o f coa ldustw h at vo u
got was lint...Lintg o t d o w ntill'th ro at andintothe
lungsandcausedth e sallie cou g hing. thesa m e
di seases .t hesamesick nessas d ust.A nd inth een dit
killedyo u.Andin theendit p ro bablywaswhat
killedh i m...
Huth e still wallt ed toliveinAmerica .H e nev er
becamerich. h e n everbecame s uccessfu l - andhe
neverbecamebitter...Rem ember,h e hadcome
froma placewhere,ifyouw ereJ ewish , you did n 't
countasahuman beingan dyouhad 110 rights at all.
InA meri cath eygavem y fathe r thevote,th ey
allo wedh ima p laceto live. and theylet his chil d r en
g rowupasAmericans.Becau se of thathecou ld
never fecibitter ..."
B et w een H:l&Jand 1925 abouttwomillionj ew s
enteredth e U ni tedStates.T o d ayth ere arc abo ut 3.7
m illio nJ ew ish Am c ric a n sandehc vmakeu p about- 2 per centofthe totalpopulationofth e Un ited
States.IIIcerta instaresalongtheArlannccoastth e
per centag('ofJ ew sishigher. In thestateofN ew
York. fo rexample.o nepersoll int enisj ewish.
So m an yimmig rant s wante d(Qenter t he United
Staresin th e late18(k lsthatthe gO\'ern me nr foundit
diffi cult to kee p checkonthem.Tocontrol the
situa tion itopeneda spec ialp laceo f cn trvinN ew
Yo r k harb o r .ThisplacewascalledEllis Island .All
in t en dingimmigrantswereexamined there befo re
they wereallowedtoenter theUnitedStates.
Ellis Islan d wasopene din 1892.D u ringirs busiest
times itdealtwithalmost 2.000immigran tsa d ay.
Betw eenitsopeningandj9S-l,whenitdosed irs
Leavinghome
Leon Stem'smo ther washornin a sm allvillage in
Lith u an ia. A t the age ofeig ht y -six she still
rem em beredvividlyth e day in 190 8 that sheleft
he r v illagean dse tofffor A me rica as animmig rant:
" 1 remem ber it clearly. The whole village
tu rn ed o u t to waveusgocdbvand w e 'vereall
sitt ingIIIthe cartw ithourlittlebundles o nour
laps and o urshawlsaro undoursho u lders. Iw as
exciteda littlebit, b utmo stl y rathe rm iserable and
fr igh tened. As the car r gotto th e endofrhcvillage
st ree t [couldseeth e g roupofv illagersw h ow ere
w avi ng us go odby was gett ingsmaller and sma ller,
butIkept myeyes fixe do n m )' m otherin the
fronto f th at lit tleg ro up.I didn' t t ak emyeyeso ff
h er ... Then ,just befor e the cart turned the
corn eran d I lo stsigh tofth em, I sawmymot h e r
faintan d fan toth e g round cr yin g andweep ing.
and Isa'v the restofthegrou p ben d o verher to
pick her u p,andI triedtoget o mofthe cartan d
run backtoherandstaywithher. Bu r th eothers
w ithmein the cartsto pped mean d h eldontom e.
And the cart turn ed ebc corn er. A n d I w as
w ee p ing andstrug gling and th ey wert'hold in g
me. AndI neversawmym ot her again."77