Jews who lived in Eastern Europe between 1881 and 1924 experienced extreme anti-Semitism and were persecuted by the government and their neighbors because of their religious beliefs. Many of these Jews immigrated to the United States in search of a better life and more opportunities. This print appeared after a 1903 pogrom in Kishinev, Russia.

pogrom: A violent riot aimed at massacre or persecution of an ethnic or religious group, particularly one aimed at Jews.

During this period, Jews in America had many freedoms which they had not experienced in their countries of origin. In the United States, Jewish immigrants found jobs and places to live—often with relatives or friends from their home countries. However, their new lives weren’t always what they had imagined.

Because of tight and often unhealthy living quarters, people became ill and needed the care of health professionals—doctors and nurses—who often visited them at home.

The Henry Street Settlement is a not–for–profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs, and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. Here, immigrants could also pursue educational programs and learn English. Henry Street was one of many organizations—Jewish and secular—that helped immigrants find their way in their new home.

Many Jewish immigrants found work in the garment industry sewing clothes and coats or making hats. Garment workers often worked in their homes (or the homes of their employers), in cramped, hot, tenement apartments called sweatshops. This photograph of a tenement sweatshop is from around 1900.

As time went on and technology advanced, more and more workers sewed clothing in large factories. It was loud and crowded, and the hours were long with few or no breaks. Workers often had to pay for their own supplies (needles and thread) and were sometimes injured by the machines. Many of these factories also employed children and teenagers. Some of the money workers earned went towards food, lodging, and cultural activities, but much of it was sent overseas to help relatives living in their home countries.

The owners of these larger garment factories were often Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States 20 years earlier and managed to save up money to build their own businesses. In this picture, the Jewish owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Co., Isaac Harris (front row, center, with hands folded) and Max Blanck (right of Harris), pose for a group photo, most likely with workers in their factory.

Labor unions helped workers organize and work together to get better wages, hours, and working conditions. Unions also provided important cultural benefits for their members including money for legal fees, educational services, cultural programming, and newspapers. In this picture, union members are rehearsing for a play in the union hall (their meeting place).

Though workers struggled with harsh conditions and low pay, they had opportunity and independence they couldn’t find in their home countries. Young women especially had more opportunities to work outside the home, to have an education, to have an independent social life, and to earn their own money. In fact, many young women were the main breadwinners in their households. The illustration below comes from the cover of a socialist magazine that was read by many of the workers in New York. It shows six women walking home from work.

Background: At the time described in this excerpt, Rose Cohen was 12 or 13, living with her family and working in a garment factory. In this passage Rose discusses what it is like to work 12–hour days in the shop where she was employed.

The next morning when I came into the shop at 7 am, I saw at once that all the people were there and working steadily…when the boss shouted gruffly, “Look here, girl, if you want to work here you better come in early [before 7 am]…”

From this … point forward, my life become very hard. … He paid me three dollars a week and for this he hurried me from early morning until late at night … I understood that he was taking advantage of me because I was a child…

I said to my father, “But if I did piece work, I would not have to hurry so. And I could go home earlier when the other people go.”

Father explained further, “It pays him better to employ you by the week. Don’t you see if you did piecework he would have to pay you as much as he pays a woman piece worker? But this way he gets almost as much work out of you for half the amount a woman is paid.”

piecework: When workers are paid by each garment or piece of a garment they complete. The quicker and longer they work, the more the money they can earn.

Source: Rose Cohen, Out of the Shadow: A Russian Jewish Girlhood on the Lower East Side (New York: George H. Doran, 1918), 110–113. Reprinted by Cornell University Press, 1995.

1. What was working in the factory like for Rose Cohen?
2. How was Rose Cohen’s experience different from the other workers in the factory? Why was her experience different?
3. Why do you think Rose Cohen continued to work in the factory?
4. How was her experience different from the experiences of 12- or 13-year-olds living in the United States today?

Background: Louis Borgenicht immigrated to the United States in 1889 with experience buying and selling fabric and clothing. Eventually Borgenicht became a leader in the girls’ clothing industry, owning several factories in multiple states. He was also a philanthropist in the New York Jewish community. In 1942 he wrote a memoir about his life called the “Happiest Man” from which these excerpts are taken.

In this excerpt, Louis Borgenicht reflects on his experience establishing his own business soon after arriving to the United States.

In the old days labor did not organize and fight for higher wages and shorter hours. Everybody wanted to work hard, and as long as flesh could endure. They wanted to because through this hard work there was for the humblest employee the chance of a great future.

[…]

This country was not built by labor’s concern for hours or wages, nor by businessmen’s fears for their money. It was built by work and faith. I saw it with my own eyes. And I saw that that work and that faith were based on one single thing—economic opportunity.

Source: Friedman, Harold. The Happiest Man: The Life of Louis Borgenicht As Told to Harold Friedman. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1942. p. 365.

1. Louis Borgenicht was also a relatively new immigrant. How did his experience differ from that of other immigrants? In what ways was it similar?
2. What does Louis Borgenicht say about a worker’s opportunity to have a “great future?” Do you agree? Why or why not?
3. What does Louis Borgenicht mean when he says “labor did not organize?” What is organizing?
4. Why did some workers organize into unions?
5. What is Louis Borgenicht’s opinion about labor unions and organizing?

Background: In this excerpt, Jewish factory owner Louis Borgenicht describes a wedding for one of his employees that was held at the winter home he built for his family in 1913. His family also owned a country estate in the Catskill Mountains that they lived in during the summer.

This last was a proud house, but we were humble. Just before the building was completed, Regina informed me that the daughter of one of the small contractors who handled work for me was being married.

“She can’t afford the kind of a wedding she’d like,” said my wife. She hesitated, then went on firmly. “Couldn’t we have it here, as sort of a housewarming?”

To me it seemed no festive occasion could match that wedding as an expression of joy and gratefulness in our hearts. The ceremony was held in the living room, to the music of fiddlers banked on the gallery above.

Source: Friedman, Harold. The Happiest Man: The Life of Louis Borgenicht As Told to Harold Friedman. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1942. pp.276-277

1. What does this passage tell you about Louis Borgenicht’s home life? How is his home life different from the lives of most factory workers at this time?
2. What does this passage tell you about Louis Borgenicht’s relationship to the people he employs?