— Joan Weaving
The patchwork quilt of America reflects the different backgrounds of the people who traveled here. Each square is a unique story, yet each story is similar. Immigrants are human beings. Immigrants are people. They think and feel and want what everyone wants…a better life for their progeny. Here are some of their stories.
The town of Petrowerowka was in the southwestern part of Russia (now the Ukraine) at the turn of the 20th century. It was part of the Komanetz Podulsk, the section of Russia where Jews were allowed to live. There, in 1884, Yakov Blechmann was born to Abram and Feige, the second of 9 children and the second son. He was educated in the “cheder” and learned to read and speak in Yiddish. Circa 1900 the family moved to Odessa where Yakov and his brother Selig opened a shop. But the world around them was shifting. Though segregated as Jews, they lived peacefully until Russia lost the war it had started with Japan, and the humiliated Czar blamed it on the Jews.
To punish the Jews, the Czar ordered pogroms. Cossacks on horseback rode into the small towns and schtetls where the Jewish people lived, killing and mutilating innocent people and destroying their homes and property. These pogroms were carried out randomly and frequently, causing many Jews to flee. In 1903, at the age of 19, Yakov traveled by himself to prepare a route for his family to escape to America. He went north through Romania, Poland and Germany, and eventually arrived in Holland where he boarded a boat to New York City. After arriving he found work in a laundry, and helped the rest of his family make the journey to America in 1904 and 1905.
The 1910 census shows Yakov, now Jacob Blackman, as the owner of a laundry. A picture taken of him shows a proud and smiling man on the doorstep of his own business…an American entrepreneur, without fear and confident in his future.
In 1911, Jacob met a young woman named Ethel, also from Komanetz Podulsk, and they married in 1912. They had two sons, Samuel in 1913 and Joseph in 1917. The 1920 census shows that Jacob had sold his laundry and was now working in pharmaceuticals as a sales representative. He was doing well enough that his family had moved to a larger apartment in the Bronx. Sometime over the next 10 years his entrepreneurial spirit had rekindled, and he started a small pharmaceutical company called Primo Pharmaceuticals. Primo introduced the first generic aspirin, ushering in the generic drug industry.
Jacob was now a wealthy man. He and his family soon spent their summers at a hotel on the Brooklyn seashore, and it was there that his son Samuel met the owner’s daughter, Clara. They married in 1939. Samuel had a Ph.D in organic chemistry and developed some of the first drugs to treat diabetes. Clara was an educator who directed guidance programs for the NYC Board of Education.
Fifty years later, a baby girl named Yvonne was born in Elizabethtown, Jamaica. She was raised by her mother and completed a preliminary education. When she was 21, she married a man of Pakistani descent, and he built her a large home in Jamaica. She gave birth to a boy and then a girl and life was good until husband ran off with her younger sister and she was left to support her children. There was no work in Jamaica, and she left for the United States. Yvonne was no freeloader. She willingly worked hard to make sure her children could be educated and create a good life for themselves. After living in Florida, she moved to Paterson, NJ and worked as a nanny in the nearby town of Ridgewood. Our paths crossed when she was looking for a position just as I was returning to work and needed a nanny for my toddler son. Although what I paid her was a lot for me, it did not provide a luxury existence. She wanted to send her children to parochial school to keep them safe in an inner-city environment, so she worked a second job, making sure that her children ate a hot dinner and completed their homework. Eventually she became known as the affable, intelligent and competent worker that she was. Opportunities opened to her—a Montessori school looking for an aid, another family looking for a part-time nanny, another family looking for after school driver. Even as my son grew older, she stayed with us to care for my mother-in-law who lived with us. There was no end to her ability to be industrious as well as reliable. Yvonne became a citizen and currently works in the cancer center of a leading NJ hospital where she takes patients to their appointments. She has been promoted at least once. She is loved by coworkers and patients alike.
Yvonne’s children graduated from high school and then college and have become productive members of their respective communities. The son has a BA in graphic arts and works for a company in Pennsylvania. His wife is a manager in an insurance company. Their oldest daughter is in pre-med at a leading university. Their youngest is in high school also with an eye on medicine.
Fast forward another fifty years. America has changed. The light in the harbor that was once a beacon to all who wanted a better life now burned less brightly. The means for legally entering America were restricted, even as the need for foreign-born workers did not diminish. The workers who now tended to our farmwork, managed our landscapes, built our roads, worked in our stores (to name a few) were here illegally yet, paradoxically, still welcome. In Bridgeport, CT, undocumented immigrants could send their children to school, could get work, could go to the community college. They were given tax numbers and paid taxes to a government which supposedly didn’t want them here. They were told to participate in the Census, that they could do so safely. It was a “forked tongue” policy: our official policy is to reject you, but please come and we will allow you to work here and go to school. We will take your taxes but give you no benefits. Unlike Yakov and Yvonne, these new immigrants could not get citizenship.
Into this system came Isabel, a young woman born into poverty in Mexico. After second grade she was unable to return to school as she needed to make money. Isabel was bright and wanted more. She and her husband could not get into America legally, but they walked across the border, knowing that work would be available in areas where immigrants were welcome, even if undocumented. Isabel’s husband was employed in a food shop. Like all undocumented immigrants he paid income taxes using a government issued tax ID number, paid sales taxes, and purchased goods and services, contributing to the American economy. Isabel enrolled in Mercy Learning Center, a unique organization which started as a literacy center and became a school. Its motto is “Educate a mother, educate a family,” and it provided one-on-one tutoring as well as classes, elevating students from ESL to GED prep. MLC also had on site a social worker, a nurse, a licensed pre-school, and a college/career counselor. The latter is what I provided as a volunteer after I retired and is where I met Isabel and others like her. It took Isabel only three years to go from ESL to getting her GED. Afterwards, she enrolled in the local community college and studied education. Her children were enrolled in public school and graduated from high school and college. Isabel had worked hard for every advantage which being in America provided. She wanted a green card and a path to citizenship and was denied both. But she and her family stayed, becoming respected members of the Bridgeport community. And then came ICE in 2025. Isabel and her family were removed and sent back to Mexico.
Most immigrants coming to America are good people with the same ambitions that all people share—to better their lives for themselves and for their children. The majority are hard workers who have not had the luxury of feeling entitled. Their absence in America will be felt economically, socially and culturally. Unlike Yakov and Yvonne, the children of Isabel will not have the chance to flourish in America and create a legacy that will pass through to generations. America will suffer by their loss.
The threads of our quilt are fraying.
Joan Weaving embarked on a successful business career as the first woman Product Manager for Nabisco, Inc., and a Corporate Vice President for Equitable, before starting her own consulting company in 1988, specializing in leadership development and executive coaching for major corporations. Joan has been an active OLLI participant and has played a key role in the conceptualization and execution of the annual Board of Advisor’s retreat. Joan has led our Exploring Leadership Opportunities class.
Leave a Reply