The World of the Daughters

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,8 (A-), LMU Munich, course: PS Entering the Golden Medinah - Jewish in the Lower East Side, language: English, abstract: Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe and Russia to the United States - specifically to New York Citys Lower East Side - from the end of the 19th century until after World War II plays a significant and important role in Jewish history, and in US history as well. By looking at this feature of the American past, one can get an impression not only of what that immigrant life was generally like during that time, but also of the distinct culture that emerged in the Lower East Side as more and more Jewish immigrants came to settle there. As different as the United States was from the countries these people came from, as different were their new lives. Naturally, this had an impact on how people dealt with difficulties, on how they upheld their beliefs and traditions, and on how they behaved and felt in general. Whole families were affected by these changes. In this paper, we are going to discuss what life in the "New World" was like for young immigrant girls, for the unmarried daughters of Jewish families in the Lower East Side. We will be considering the following questions: How did the role of Jewish immigrant daughters within their families change and what difficulties emerged in the process? What challenges did these girls have to face and how did they cope with them? Why is this specific period of history important for Jewish and American history in general? In the search for answers to these questions, we will briefly look at how life was like for Jewish daughters in the "Old World" in Eastern Europe and Russia and then discuss the changes during and after the immigration process.