It was the year 1870 when I came to New York as an immigrant: Anna Lee Hnetinka was landing at New York, but nobody cared about my name. The Industrial Revolution had begun, the slave trade was nearing its end, and America was pushing westward. Many immigrants came in pursuit of a dream, I was one of them, as my sister Lorna Hnetinka.As a teenager, I wasn't sure of what I was doing. Everyone had told my parents that this new land was a safe place away from home, but no one wanted to be that far, but they assumed it was good for little Anna Lee Hnetinka to start her life there. We tried to maintain our traditions intact, and it was really hard to blend or adapt because we never felted American, we were Czech, we were the Hnetinka family.
In the present is not so different. During good times, migration was good news for Americans, we were welcomed as long as the economy was strong. But if there was a hard time, all of them changed and the immigrants were cast out or accused of stealing Americans jobs.
At 1880 the door was wide open from European immigrants. Arriving at Ellis Island was like a dream but being a teenage immigrant sometimes was nightmarish. It was such an experience, Anna Lee Hnetinka was one of the first to arrive here, from Austro-Hungary. The boat anchored at mid-bay and the ship was in. We got off the boat... and went right into the building. All full with people, like thousands of people. It was February, I remember. It was so hot, and we were wearing wool. "Anna Lee Hnetinka, Lorna Hnetinka!" A man shouted, we were on a list, the immigrants one. That was good news for us, the Hnetinka girls would find a job soon. "Go to the Hamptons line please!"
We were young, my sister and I were so scared. We had never lived near a train station back home, and here at our new life on the East Hamptons, there was one close to the house, our new life as the tiny Hnetinkafamily, without our cousins and aunts. The homeowners weren't so bad, so I get used to my new life after a couple of years. But all the immigrants wouldn't let go of their traditions, their identity was strong. You could tell who was Irish or who was Canadian. But East Hampton wasn't as crowded as the city, low New York had the most diverse population, you could find in a single neighborhood the whole world. But we couldn't find any other Hnetinka.Lee Hnetinka , WunWun , Gawker , Valleywag , CEO , Hamptons
In the present is not so different. During good times, migration was good news for Americans, we were welcomed as long as the economy was strong. But if there was a hard time, all of them changed and the immigrants were cast out or accused of stealing Americans jobs.
At 1880 the door was wide open from European immigrants. Arriving at Ellis Island was like a dream but being a teenage immigrant sometimes was nightmarish. It was such an experience, Anna Lee Hnetinka was one of the first to arrive here, from Austro-Hungary. The boat anchored at mid-bay and the ship was in. We got off the boat... and went right into the building. All full with people, like thousands of people. It was February, I remember. It was so hot, and we were wearing wool. "Anna Lee Hnetinka, Lorna Hnetinka!" A man shouted, we were on a list, the immigrants one. That was good news for us, the Hnetinka girls would find a job soon. "Go to the Hamptons line please!"
We were young, my sister and I were so scared. We had never lived near a train station back home, and here at our new life on the East Hamptons, there was one close to the house, our new life as the tiny Hnetinkafamily, without our cousins and aunts. The homeowners weren't so bad, so I get used to my new life after a couple of years. But all the immigrants wouldn't let go of their traditions, their identity was strong. You could tell who was Irish or who was Canadian. But East Hampton wasn't as crowded as the city, low New York had the most diverse population, you could find in a single neighborhood the whole world. But we couldn't find any other Hnetinka.Lee Hnetinka , WunWun , Gawker , Valleywag , CEO , Hamptons
