How much of a struggle was it for immigrants to assimilate into American culture?
Economic assimilation came easily for some, and eluded others. Many immigrants in Detroit caught a piston-driven ride into the middle class. My grandfather wasn’t one of them. His time in the auto industry was short-lived, and ended long before the Depression finally ensured his place in the welfare lines. Cultural assimilation proved more difficult. To say”They chose to come here” doesn’t change the reality that first-generation immigrants faced, their bewilderment as they confronted an unfamiliar language and strange customs. Russian Jews left a country that had passed laws to keep them from rising in Russian society. Is it any surprise that many arrived with an extreme distrust of government and an ambivalence toward assimilation? The second generation of any immigrant family assimilates more easily than the first. That was true in the early 20th century, and it’s largely true today. Q: Did you worry that you wouldn’t be able to learn enough about Annie’s life to write the book? A:
