Zainab Ahmed

3 October 2016
Honors 1000
Professor Tim Moran
Our New Home
My wife shakes me awake, gently. Dear, you must wake up, or you will be late. she
whispers to me, in our native tongue. I begrudgingly open my tired eyes. I see my wife, wrapped
in a couple layers of warm clothing, and the grey walls of our too small bedroom. Stanislaus, I
have made breakfast. Come. she urges me again, before getting up and moving away with
difficulty. She is 6 months pregnant with our first child, and although she is unsatisfied with how
we are living right now, she is delighted at the prospect of being able to have someone to take
care of while I am at work. I, too, am absolutely delighted. I will soon see the faces of my
children that I have given up everything for. I pull myself from the hard bed, and prepare to get
ready for my long day in the Ford automobile factory.
We came to this land called America nearly a year ago, on October 3, 1914. It had been
quite a chilly day, and both my wife and I couldnt stop looking at the docks from the ship we
were on. It was a little strange, this new bustling city we had arrived in. It was much like what
my old friend Emil had described it to be in his letters. He had come here two years before us,
and had urged us to come ever since. Earlier that year, hed sent a letter saying that his employer,
Mr. Henry Ford had generously raised his pay for unskilled workers to a whole $5 a day in return
for being trained his Americanization program1. With the prospects of war growing in Europe, it

"The $5 Day

| Henry Ford 150." Henry Ford 150. Motor Cities National Heritage, n.d. Web. 3 Oct.
2016.
1

seemed like a good idea to move far away from the problems of our life in Poland, and instead
try to create a beautiful new life here. My wife, Halina, feared the idea of having me go off to
war and chance never seeing me come back. Of course, I didnt like it much either, but it seemed
that Emils letters spoke more to her than it had to me. She managed to convince me that it
would be so much better to go to this new land and build a prosperous future for our family there
rather than here.
So we arrived in Detroit, after nearly nine months of saving every coin we had. Emil said
that he would help us until my job had been confirmed and we had our own home. For now, we
lived in one of the poorer neighborhoods of this strange city, where it seemed hundred of people
suffered the same living conditions we did.2 I worried Halina, who had been looking forward to
this for so long would be immensely disappointed when I brought her to our extremely humble
home. Instead, she grasped my hands and said, It will do. Good comes to those who wait. And
so, we waited. And worked. Earning five dollars a day was truly a generous pay, and I was quite
grateful for the Americanization program. It seemed that every non-english speaking worker had
been required to take part in the program, which taught us the English language, civics, and also
hygiene.3 It was quite important to take the program and to speak English in the factories. Our
instructor had told us that a miscommunication in the factory could end in death.4 Everyone took
the course seriously, for this reason and more.

Ballaban, Michael.

"When Henry Ford's Benevolent Secret Police Ruled His Workers." Jalopnik. N.p.,
2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
3
The Melting Pot , by Richard Bak. In Detroit: 1900-1930. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1999).
pp.47-66
4
Ballaban, Michael.

"When Henry Ford's Benevolent Secret Police Ruled His Workers." Jalopnik. N.p.,
2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
2

It also resulted in easier communication between fellow factory workers. There were
many immigrants from all over Europe that had been working alongside me that I could now talk
to. My friend was German, another was Irish, and the third was Emil, a Pole just like me. They
did not have very large communities the way we did. My Polish brethren had been in the city for
nearly thirty years, and they had children that were natives, like me, and many were American
born Poles.5 They had found jobs in stove works, cigar and tobacco factories, in machine shops,
in construction work, and in packing houses, and had been working in the city for a much longer
time than I had been.6 Some of us were professionals workers, like lawyers, doctors, dentists,
scientists. To Halinas happiness, they opened a Polish grocery store, and she asked to go there
with me. I was asked to help train younger Poles that had just arrived from our motherland. It
gave our community a sense of pride to know that we were truly assimilating ourselves into
society. We were finally starting to feel at home in that strange bustling city we had chosen to be
our new home.

Years passed, and my son Peter and daughter Maria grew up in the Polish community we
had built. I had enough money to buy a new home for us two years after we had come to Detroit.
My son was too young to remember where he had first lived, and truly I was okay with that. It
made me happy to know that my son would remember this new home that I had made, and that
he would never have to face those situations that I worked hard to bring us out from. Three years
after my son was born, my daughter also came into this world, and by that time, we were doing

Remigia, M., Sister. "Detroit's Immigrants." Polish Roots. The Polish Genealogy Soure, n.d. Web. 3 Oct.
2016.
6
Remigia, M., Sister. "Detroit's Immigrants." Polish Roots. The Polish Genealogy Soure, n.d. Web. 3 Oct.
2016.
5

quite well. I had managed to land a promotion at the factory, and could happily support my
family, although the factorys Sociological Department was a bit troublesome when it came to
checking up on workers.7 Halina worked hard to teach them about Poland, their motherland, and
taught them our native language, but it was rather difficult feat to accomplish since our beautiful
children had never seen our now war ravaged country.
Still, we had many organizations that our Polish community had set up to try and keep
our culture and language alive, as well as helping any refugees that came from Poland.8 The
Polish National Alliance was one of the many organizations that worked not only in Detroit, but
in other states and cities across the country, gaining recognition in the Detroit Free Press.9 And
we began to thrive. Hanila became a midwife and helped out the women in the neighborhood.
My children attended schools once they were able to, thanks to the money I was earning from the
factory and what Hanila earned from the deliveries. I was able to buy a car from the Ford
company, much to the excitement of the children, but not until after a thorough check by the
Ford department.10
Despite the trouble, I believe it was worth it to come to this land. When Halina and I
check on our children to make sure theyve gone to bed, and we see them sleeping peacefully in
their room, their toys littered about, we both smile. We know that our hard work has given our
children a proper childhood in a safe and protected community. At times like these, Halina likes
Ballaban, Michael. "When Henry Ford's Benevolent Secret Police Ruled His Workers." Jalopnik. N.p.,
2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
8
Remigia, M., Sister. "Detroit's Immigrants." Polish Roots. The Polish Genealogy Soure, n.d. Web. 3 Oct.
2016.
9
Greunel, John. "POLISH NATIONAL ALLIANCE IN DETROIT AND MICHIGAN." D
etroit Free
Press (1858-1922): 1. Jun 10 1906. ProQuest. Web. 3 Oct. 2016 .
10
Ballaban, Michael. "When Henry Ford's Benevolent Secret Police Ruled His Workers." Jalopnik. N.p.,
2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
7

to grin at me and say, Good comes to those who wait. And shes right. We were able to build a
home for ourselves in this new land, without losing ourselves and who we were. We were given
an equal opportunity, the way America had said we would, and we were able to thrive. We
missed our homeland a lot more than we like to admit, but we know that this is our home now.
This is where we would live out the rest of our days, watching our children grow up happy and
healthy.

Citations
Ballaban, Michael. "When Henry Ford's Benevolent Secret Police Ruled His Workers."
Jalopnik. N.p., 2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
Greunel, John. "POLISH NATIONAL ALLIANCE IN DETROIT AND MICHIGAN." Detroit
Free Press (1858-1922): 1. Jun 10 1906. ProQuest. Web. 3 Oct. 2016 .
Remigia, M., Sister. "Detroit's Immigrants." Polish Roots. The Polish Genealogy Soure, n.d.
Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
"The $5 Day | Henry Ford 150." Henry Ford 150. Motor Cities National Heritage, n.d. Web. 3
Oct. 2016.
The Melting Pot , by Richard Bak. In Detroit: 1900-1930. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing,
1999). pp.47-66