A
woman remembers what she did on her first day in America
to symbolize the fresh start she was making in the New World:
My first day in America I went with my aunt to buy some American
clothes. She bought me a shirtwaist, you know, a blouse and
a skirt, a blue print with red buttons and a hat, such a hat
I had never seen. I took my old brown dress and shawl and
threw them away! I know it sounds foolish, we being so poor,
but I didn't care. I had enough of the old country. When I
looked in the mirror, I couldn't get over it. I said, boy,
Sophie, look at you now. Just like an American.
Hutchins Hapgood, was a non-Jewish journalist who frequented
the Lower East Side. In 1902, he published a collection of
his writings on Jewish immigrant life entitled, Spirit
of the Ghetto. Here, he describes the rapidity with which
many immigrants Americanized.
The man who has been only three weeks in this country hates
few things so much as to be called a greenhorn. Under this
fear he learns the small vocabulary to which in many years
he adds very little. His dress receives rather greater modification
than his language. In the old country he never appeared in
a short coat; that would be enough to stamp him as a free
thinker. But when he comes to New York and his coat is worn
out, he is unable to find any garment long enough. The best
he can do is to buy a cutaway, or a Prince Albert, which he
often calls a Prince Isaac. As soon as he imbibes the fear
of being called a greenhorn he assumes the Prince Isaac with
less regret. Many of the old women, without diminution of
piety, discard their wigs,
which are strictly required by the Orthodox in Russia, and
go even to the synagogue with nothing on their heads but their
natural locks.
