Our Journey to" the land of opportunities"

DIARY OF BRIGITTE SCHMIDT


                                              November 15,1863


Its the year 1863  me and my brother August are ready to board this huge steam boat . As we waited for the man to pick up tickets we notice how people begged for money and cried to get in this boat.Our turn came to finally  board we gave our tickets and once in we sat in this dark room with many other people,everybody was very excited for this voyage to the land of opportunities United States.The ship left around 11:00 am a huge crowd of people cried and sang from joy. The Pearl was released from the harbor and our voyage began. August and I were told that this trip would last around 15 to 20 days.
                                             November 30,1863


Only the good things were told to us about this voyage. The passengers aboard were now complaining about the food shortage and the hygiene in this boat ,people literally fought for food and a spot to sleep. We had brought some food for this voyage,but unfortunately it  lasted about 10 days. August and I witnessed how many of the passengers died of starvation and dehydration. Five days we faced hunger but finally,through a little hole we could see land, me and my brother cried of emotion the land of opportunities was right before our eyes.


                                          November 31,1863


We arrived to Ellis Island on November30,1863 this horrible voyage had finally ended.Me and August were asked many question but we got through them easily although we lied in many of them.Our parents had a relative who recently moved to the US we were to get in contact with Anne Lewis who lived nearby.We did as our dad told us we arrived to Ann Lewis with the address provided to us. Anne Lewis gave us a warm welcome and she narrated her hard times in this country.Ann would help us to progress.
                                            January 9,1864

I was given a job at a manufacturing company packing goods and August was hired to harvest crops but we hardly gained  any money our  goal was to get a piece of land and a place of our own to live.Ann provided us with food  to help us prosper since her husband gained good money. With our savings over the years we were able to buy a small piece of land from a lady who died from a strange disease.We felt very happy August and I struggled to see this someday,it was like a dream. 
                                           January 11,1864


It was sad to face the discrimination because our  ethnicity. Germans as well as other groups of immigrants were given the worst jobs and killed because of  racial differences.This is not what we had in mind of the USA,we thought we would live in total happiness and no problems. I guess this is still better than our homeland Germany we had no job, people fought over the few jobs if we stayed there we would've been either killed or in the streets begging for help.