immigration 1964

Immigration in 1964

By Miriam

London, England 1964

Ellis Island 1964

Starting over, it’s hard to do. Weather its moving to a new school, a new state, or in my father's case a new country. In 1964 my father, his mother, father, older sister, and older brother, moved to Portland, Oregon from London, England. His family wasn’t the only family that moved away from everything they knew to America, the country with new opportunities and less judgment during the time.

It’s not easy to leave everything you’ve grown to know and love. My father was only two at the time, but my aunt was eight, and my uncle was almost twelve. When they first moved to the U.S. they lived in a two bedroom one bathroom house, in Lake Oswego, Oregon. My aunt attended Collins View Elementary, and my uncle attended Collins View Junior High, (Collins View is now called Riverdale.) My grandfather got a researching job at the University of Oregon Medical School, and my grandmother continued her work as an artist, but mostly stayed home with my dad.
It wasn’t necessarily the moving that was the hard part, but adapting to the american culture. My aunt says “For me the worst part was my accent. They used to make me say funny things and wouldn't take me seriously, almost as if I was a toy.” My grandfather tells me “What was hardest for me was the new words. I had trouble understanding people at work, and when I asked if someone had gotten into some barney, they would just stare. (Barney is english slang for trouble.)” The funny thing is, even though my grandparents were only 34 when they moved here, they are now 80, and still carry their british accents withem wherever they go.
So you might ask yourself, if moving to America was so hard, why come? My father's family came to the US for the same reason almost every family moves to the US, Financial reasons. My grandfather was having troubles holding a job. It wasn’t that he wasn’t qualified for his jobs, or that he wasn’t good at them. The problem was it was only 19 years after World War II, and it was still hard to get a job as a jew. My grandfather had tried everything, he even changed his last name, but even that didn’t cut it. Lucky, being a jew in america did not affect his work life, or his place on the social status, for the most part.
1964 was a big year for immigration to the U.S. The Cuban Missile Crisis had just ended, they had a new President, and M.L.K was still alive and promoting African American rights. People of different races were starting to come to the U.S. Forgineers thought of the U.S. as a safe place again and, it all affected all those families who left everything behind and came to the U.S.A.

Sources:

• http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade60.html
• http://www.history.com/topics/1960s
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s
• https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=immigration+1965&revid=291992740&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1680&bih=873&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=J5cmUZm2JcvwiQLQr4CgBw#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&spell=1&q=immigration&sa=X&ei=ypcmUYK1GdDmiwK-wIDoCQ&ved=0CE4QvwUoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42768644,d.cGE&fp=20efa0ca7869284f&biw=1680&bih=873
• https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=immigration+1965&revid=291992740&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1680&bih=873&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=J5cmUZm2JcvwiQLQr4CgBw#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=london+1964&oq=london+1964&gs_l=img.3..0l2j0i24.516998.525499.5.525994.20.13.4.3.3.0.58.537.13.13.0...0.0...1c.1.4.img.m0hT6iyvPGo&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42768644,d.cGE&fp=20efa0ca7869284f&biw=1622&bih=873
• My Father
• My Grandfather
• My Aunt
• My Uncle
• My Grandmother