Over 12 million immigrants passed through its doors between 1892 and 1924, each with their own struggles and aspirations. According to the National Park Service, over 40% of Americans living today are descended from immigrants who passed through Ellis Island.
I am one of them.
In 1917, George and Rachel Arsu left their home in Cluj, Romania, in search of a new life in America. George and Rachel were my maternal grandparents. I imagine that their arrival at Ellis Island in New York Harbor was marked by a mixture of hope and anxiety. The Statue of Liberty stares you in the face, reminding you of freedom and new opportunities.
After facing a rigorous inspection, my grandparents, along with their 9 children, settled in the large Romanian expat community in Youngstown, Ohio. In 1918 Rachel Arsu became pregnant again.
She gave birth to her last child, a daughter. They named her Elvera. Elvera Arsu was my mother. In 1945, she married a man from Hawaii named John Black. They had met at a USO club in Youngstown as he was being shipped off to fight the Germans in WWII. After their wedding in Youngstown they took a train to California and then boarded a ship bound for Honolulu.
Now settled in Hawaii, they had 4 children. I was their youngest. Growing up, my mother was the only Romanian speaker I knew.
There was little to no chance of me learning to speak Romanian at our home in Kailua -- a fact that causes me significant embarrassment whenever I visit Romania and people find out that this half-Romanian speaks not a word of their language. I can't blame my mother of course.
That generation of immigrants were eager to assimilate into American society, language and all. But that makes me no less proud of my Romanian heritage. In his 1958 book A Nation of Immigrants, President John F. Kennedy wrote, "There are probably as many reasons for coming to America as there were people who came." I'm sure my grandparents came in large part to see that their children and grandchildren had a better life than they had. They could not have imagined that one of their grandsons would become an educator and lifelong language lover.
If that's your background also, you'll love this version of "They're Coming to America" by Neil Diamond.
The song is an emotional tribute to his own grandparents who escaped oppression in Eastern Europe. Like Neil, I love America despite all her flaws, not least because her identity is built by immigrants and diverse communities from across the globe. Her liberties allow individuals to forge their own paths and pursue economic liberty. Of course, I don't love her poor decisions. I don't love her fading values. But I love America.
Let's gratefully love this, our country, America.