Have you ever been interested in the immigrant’s struggles of the past and how they changed life for immigrants On Wednesday, February 4th, AMS juniors headed to the Lower East Side to visit the Tenement Museum. This trip was organized by Ms. Taveras. We arrived by 11am and divided into groups who all visited different historically recreated tenements and learned about the immigrant families that used to live there.
Keshav Srinivasan, an educator for the museum, said he considers his work important today. “Most countries rely on immigrants. Essentially, we are a conglomeration of immigrants [and] so much of what we take for granted is because of the activism of immigrants.”
Joel Barrientos Hernandez , a student that went on the trip said, “I feel like there could be like two trips, maybe 1 in 10th grade and another one in 11th grade for people. So they.. already have some background knowledge about the things that we’re going to learn, so it’s more interesting for them.
Jesmely Helly was struck by the crowded conditions Victoria’s family lived in. “Two of her brothers shared one bed, one of them also slept on the floor, and then there was another bed that two of her brothers also had to share.”
Mr. Chodan said the museum helped connect him with his own roots. “What I really liked is that they talked about how everyone’s story matters,” he said. “It’s not just the rich and the powerful, everyday people, immigrants. I learned about my own immigrant family who came from eastern Europe.”
Ms. Dean said, “I found it interesting that they recreated [the spaces] to look exactly the way it was at the time. Some of the rooms were left untouched. And I like that they played like the audio recording, so we got to hear the voice of the people that were actually there.”
Jarelyn Dela Cruz was surprised by the education level of the immigrants of that time. “I found it interesting that Victoria…only completed the kindergarten and second grade. And that was really interesting, because…we complete like kindergarten through high school. So it was really interesting, and…kind of sad because she didn’t have opportunities because she was a woman.”
Ms. Taveras said she wanted students to see the difficult conditions immigrants used to live in. “I want students to understand that history is everywhere around them…and we’re not that different from the people who came before us,” she said, “and to appreciate the city that we’re in right now, because there’s so many people who sacrificed and lost their lives.”
