Immigrant stories more vital than ever
In the early 1900s, a young Jewish woman named Mildred Stollak left her small German town and took a ship across the Atlantic Ocean. She landed at Ellis Island in New York and stepped onto U.S. soil for the first time.
I’m very thankful she did. Mildred, my great-grandmother, went on to start her own business making hats for the wealthy ladies of the city. She raised my grandmother, who later joined the U.S. Navy during World War II as a nurse. There, she met my grandfather, also a first-generation American, who was serving in the Navy.
They raised my mother, who became a registered nurse, and her brothers, one of whom runs the career-counseling center for Duke University, and the other, who ran a YMCA in Georgia for most of his career.
I trace this back for you because I feel like it’s never been more important to highlight these inspiring immigrant stories. If Mildred had not come to the U.S. when she did, my German-Jewish family’s story would have been very different.
It’s because the U.S. offered sanctuary to those tired, poor huddled masses that many of us stand here today.
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2016/11/25/editors-notebook-emily-parkhurst-immigration-psbj.html?ana=e_tf&s=newsletter&ed=2016-11-28&u=ColXVN5SPzQtLHFP87ho2w07857290&t=1480380090&j=76581501