In preparation for a trip to the Tenement Museum to meet a recent (historical) immigrant, Victoria Confino, fourth graders spent some time looking at primary source documents. Using the documents, they started to build an understanding of who Victoria was and what her life was like. This also led to more questions.
Ezra describes this process with:
At first I thought, “Oh this is just some random girl who immigrated from a random town.” But now I’m thinking “Wow! Learning about this girl can teach us a little more about immigration!”
An analysis of some primary source documents by Yves:
The information I got about Victoria Confino was as follows: Age of 10 Lived in Macedonia Came to the U.S. with 4 (maybe 5) family members I had a couple of questions. First why is Victoria’s father’s name not on the ship manifest, didn’t he come with her? Why did the place Victoria came from get changed from Macedonia to Patras? My understanding of Victoria changed from curious to very sad. In the first document it looked like everyone was miserable. Also, her father was not on the ship manifest, which implies that she either left him behind or that he had died. It was not a happy story.
More document analysis by Asher:
I was able to gather the dates that documents were made on, who her family members were, How she did as a student and what it looked like in her home country and her age. Victoria is ten years old. Her family members were Rachel, David, Saul and Isaac. Rachel and Saul were her parents. The rest were her siblings according to the documents. The ship manifest was made in 1908. Her home country had a lot of trees and buildings. Where she lives is an island because it’s surrounded by water. Victoria is a b+ student according to the school report. She was present at school for 16 days which makes me think that she was focused on jobs she had to do.
One question I have is why her country was crossed out on the ship manifest sheet. Another question I have is if not being able to take in a boarder was difficult on Orchard Street and that is why they moved to the uptown area.
On Monday, January 9th, our class went to the Tenement Museum to meet Victoria. We split up into two groups. One group simulated being a Russian family looking for a place to live after passing inspections at Ellis Island, the other group posed as an Italian family. Below are some news articles describing the scenes.
Bye-bye Russia and Hello America!
By Sam NEW YORK – January 9, 1916 A Russian family was looking for a tenement in the Lower East Side. The Russians wanted to know about an American life. They came across a girl named Victoria Confino. She was 11 years old when she moved from Kastoria to America and since she did not know any English she was in second grade. “I don’t understand why I have to read such kids’ books,” she said. They live in a settlement house. A settlement house was a social work organization that helped new immigrants settle in New York. The tenement was very small and Victoria had 10 brothers so it was very hard for them to squeeze in. They did not get a lot of food. Victoria kept saying to the Russian family, “Next time you visit I will bring something for you guys to eat.” Victoria came from a place where they did not have school and where they had servants, so it was very hard for her to move to a place like New York. “We could do whatever we wanted,” she said when she was talking about her life back home. Victoria has this coal to help keep her kitchen stove hot. Sometimes her brother runs around the floor so Victoria has to keep an eye on him so he does not burn himself on the kitchen stove. “Watch out!” The Russian family learned that life in America can be hard. Even though it was hard to live in a tenement, the Russian family decided to live next to Victoria.VICTORIA LENDS A HAND
by Miles NY NY-Monday at 97 Orchard St., Sheri, a social worker, escorts an Italian family to Victoria Confino´s house because they were looking for a home. They went to Confino because she was a true New Yorker and has been here for awhile. They walked into a creaky smelly dull brown house. There were things like shoes strewn across the floor. It was a very messy house but they just dealt with it. The family seemed to be very interested in jobs. “My job is at the factory, I make aprons,” Victoria said. They needed a job to make money to buy the essentials. Play it safe in New York. “It’s a shady place out there and you’ve got to be prepared,” explained Victoria. The children’s guardians had a keen interest in their children’s education as well. Victoria went to PS 64. She seemed to like it alot. They considered going there. They had to remember, Victoria had been there way longer than them and she knew best. “Where do you get food here?” they asked. “For meat you go to the butcher and for fruits and veggies you go to the pushcarts outside.” “You need to haggle for the best prices with sales people because lots of things are overly priced,” explained Victoria. “ It’s like limbo you bargain how low can you go!” “Thank you for coming,” Victoria exclaimed as they left. “Thank you.” they said, leaving the damp, dank, dark tenement.