Ramcharan 1

Hannah Ramcharan
Professor Gray
History 202
20 October 2015
Life as an Immigrant Coming to America
Imagine leaving the homeland for a country that has yet to be seen. Upon arriving, a wisp of
clouds floats away revealing countless steel sky scrapers reaching for the heavens among the radiant
Statue of Liberty holding up the blazing torch. This is what immigrants like Hilda Satt experienced
when coming to America in the mid, to late-1800s. Satt is a woman who comes from Poland to pursue
a life in America. They key aspects of American culture that Hila Satt chose to highlight in her memoir
include safety in a sound neighborhood at Hull-House, increase in social relationships with a diverse
group of people, and the opportunity to get an education. Most immigrants probably would not
describe the United States the same way that Satt chose to because her for a variety of reasons. Hilda
Satt does well in portraying her personal opinions and emotions about the events, but the reliability of
the factual aspect of her memoir is questionable.
In Poland, Hilda Satts family was financially secure and they lived rather comfortably.
However, their safety was constantly threatened by Russian soldiers and the prejudice they had against
the Jewish people, which motivated prompted the family to move to America. Hilda Satts father, Louis
Satt, was able to support the family because of his promising job as tombstone maker. Unfortunately,
the family suffered a tragic loss when Satts father died. Dena, Hilda Satts mother, and eventually
some of her children, had to work vigorously to support the familys needs. Satt worked in a factory
that produced cuffs which she described as a deadly monotony 1. Contrastingly, she found a sense of
enjoyment in Hull-House, a settlement house in Chicago that Jane Addams led which stimulated the
education and knowledge of new skills for immigrants.

There are

1 Brown, Victoria Bissell, and Timothy J. Shannon. Going to the Source : The Bedford
Reader in American History. Third ed. Vol. 2. Boston [u.a.: Bedford/St. Martin's,
2012. 89.

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specific memories about Hull House revealed positive qualities of the American life that Satt chooses
to describe in her memoir. For example, when her friend asked her to go to a Christmas party she was
afraid she might, get killed.2 Her friend immediately assured her that there had been Jewish children
at the parties every year and that no one was ever hurt. 3 That was when Satt realized that things
might be different in America,4 and how her identity as a Polish Jew no longer affected her safety.
Also, Satt was able to build relationships with a diverse group of people at Hull-House. Although there
where people that had come from other countries there was no tension, [and] no one seemed to care
where they had come from5 Satt and the immigrants at Hull-House could relate to a similar
experience; leaving their homeland and coming to discover a new world. Another part of American
culture that is important to Satt includes education. She is passionate about English and when Miss
Addams told Satt that she would have an opportunity to go to the University of Chicago, she was so
amazed that, Tears were running down [her] cheeks. 6 Writing papers freed her abstract thoughts that
were transformed into concrete ideas, which others could comprehend.

Although Satt

experienced a life with adventure and interest, it does not reflect the lives of most immigrants. In
Poland, the family had a comfortable life so they came to America with some wealth. Living in small
housing units called tenements which were unsanitary, very crowded living quarters, most immigrants
suffered unmentionable conditions. Hull-House had better conditions because flaws were observed and
corrected by middle class activists like Jane Addams. Satt noticed the unhealthy conditions that
2Brown, Victoria Bissell, and Timothy J. Shannon. Going to the Source: The Bedford
Reader in American History. Third ed. Vol. 2. Boston [u.a.: Bedford/St. Martin's,
2012, 87.
3 Ibid, 87.
4 Ibid, 87.
5 Ibid,87.
6 Ibid,92.

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extremely poor people faced when she describes the, unsanitary, filthy food which the poor in certain
quarters are forced to eat.7 In addition, most members of immigrant families worked a twelve hour
shift and were not able to go to school because they had to support their families off because of an
insufficient income. Receiving a full scholarship to the University of Chicago like Satt did is very rare
among ordinary immigrants. Furthermore, most immigrant workers stay as a factory worker for their
entire lives and build a life up for their children. However, Satt had many other occupations including a
job to answer the door and telephone, one to operate a billing machine, and another for A. C. McClurg
& Co, which was a publishing company. To her amazement, she also acquired her dream job of
becoming an English teacher at Hull-House. She described that, being allowed to teach English to
immigrants at Hull-Housegave [her] a feeling of security that she so sorely needed. 8 Many aspects
of Satts life do not classify her as a typical immigrant which ultimately makes her experience as an
immigrant unreliable.

There are reasons to be skeptical about

the overall message that Satts memoir delivers. To start, this was written fifty years after she
experienced it. She had no dairy to refer to and had to write everything from memory which is a
complex tool of retrieval.9 This means that not all of the facts would be completely accurate but
would show her the emotional opinions of the stories. This is why she chooses to highlight a lot of
positive pieces about her life because she remembered being treated with unconditional positive
regard at Hull-House.10 There is no description of the hardships that the family had to face after of
losing Mr. Satt. Also, a day at the cuff making factory was never described in as much detail as any day
7. Ibid,91.
8 Brown, Victoria Bissell, and Timothy J. Shannon. Going to the Source : The Bedford
Reader in American History. Third ed. Vol. 2. Boston [u.a.: Bedford/St. Martin's,
2012,94.
9 Ibid,82.
10Ibid,83.

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that took place in Hull-House. Satt not only wanted to forget the past struggles but she wanted to
remember the many great adventures and opportunities she experienced.

After coming to

America, Hilda Satt discovers that qualities of American life that is different from other parts of the
world like feeling a sense of security, building strong social bonds with unique people, and the having
opportunity attend college. It is essential to realize that most immigrants did not experience the same
quality of life. Also, when analyzing Satts memoir it is important to recognize Satt may have made life
seem more enjoyable by focusing in on mostly the positive occurrences.

Works Cited
Brown, Victoria Bissell, and Timothy J. Shannon. Going to the Source : The Bedford Reader in
American History. Third ed. Vol. 2. Boston [u.a.: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012.