Field Trip Reflection: Immigrant Museums

From Haven to Home:
The importance of this exhibit was to learn about the history and culture of Jewish people and most of all, the lives of Jewish people in America. I learned that in 1654, 23 Jewish people arrived in New Amsterdam from Brazil. These 23 people were expelled from Brazil by the Portuguese conquerors. When this group of people got to New Amsterdam the governor of the Dutch colony wanted to expel them because he thought that they would be a “financial burden”. In 1825, the Maryland passed the Jew Bill which allows Jews to have a declaration of belief. Another fact that I learned was that during George Washington’s presidency, it was one of his main goals to make sure that Jewish people had their rights to life, liberty and property. He felt this way because he knew that America was built upon people who were trying to seek religious freedom. In 1924 Congress set an immigration law that officially closed the “Golden Gates” to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Before this, in 1841, the first Jewish person became a part of Congress. In 1906, Oscar Stravs became the first Jewish person to be a part of the United States cabinet. Another fact that I learned was that in May of 1902, 20,000 women from New York broke into a kosher butcher shop and threw the meat into the streets, soaked it with kerosene and set it on fire. This large group of women did this because they did not like Jewish people and they wanted to show that they had no respect for parts of Jewish culture, like kosher foods. An interesting fact about the Jewish people’s important part in American history was that in the Civil War, 3,000 Jews fought for the Confederacy when on the other hand, 9,000 Jews fought for the Union. Jews also actively protested and fought for Civil Rights and the right for women to vote. Some famous Jews that I learned about were Mary Antin and Albert Einstein.

Children of Immigrants:
Quote: “America, you are the heart of freedom, draped in the patriotism of those who have endured and died. A nurturer of so many lives, and defender of unjust cries.”
I chose this quote because I thought that it was very poetic. I also thought that it really should how much this person loved and cared about America. From reading this quote you can get an idea of how much they appreciates America and being able to live here.
Essay: The essay I chose to read was “The Untold Story of a Chinese American”. Some events in the immigrants life was that he and his family left Vietnam because the Communists when he was 6 years old. They were only able to leave because they were of Chinese decent. They left on a small boat that was crowded with other people escaping Vietnam and they were attacked two times by pirates on their journey to Malaysia. When they arrived in Malaysia they were forced to live on a small island off the coast by the government. They later decided that they wanted to live in America after America had made it so that Vietnam refugees could only come to America if they spent a long time living in the Philippines. His family spent a year in the Philippines when their application to live with an American family was accepted and they began their new life in America. I liked this story because it was not told by the person who was an immigrant. It was told by the immigrants child and I thought that it was interesting to read about how much the author appreciated their dad’s journey and experience that has given them a good life in America after all he had to go through.
Picture: I chose the photo of the little boy from India and his parents celebrating an Indian holiday. I chose this photo because the boy seemed like he had something that he misesed but also that he was happy to be there. He also was dressed in traditional Indian dress for the holiday and I thought that was cool as well.