As I reflect on this project over the course of the semester, there are many things that I learned about my family that I did not know before. Originally, I had just known that my great great grandfather had come over to the States from Hungary, but I had not known the year or why he came. I really enjoyed this project as it required me to dig deeper into my ancestry, as well as have conversations with my grandparents, uncle, and mom that I normally would not have. Being able to talk to my family about something that we share in common was really fun, and more importantly it was really neat being able to relate my family migration to my peers unique stories, as well as to the concepts we were learning in class. The most interesting aspect that I learned about my history was the date that Geza came over. He came in 1908, and as we had learned in class, in 1906, the United States was cracking down and requiring immigrants to know English (this was in an effort to inspect individuals and keep out the Chinese). This was interesting to me, as I had not known if Geza spoke English well when he arrived, I had only heard stories from my mom where she remembered he spoke very well, but with a cool accent. Another aspect I found interesting is, again, in relation to the time my great great grandfather decided to come over. In 1917, America was becoming increasingly concerned about Southern and Eastern European immigrants, so they required them to pass a literacy test to get into the country. This stood out to me because Geza had come only 9 years prior to this, thus, who knows if he would have passed the test and been able to get into the United States. This small detail could have affected if my family would have been able to migrate here. Moreover, if my family had migrated from a different country at the same time, say China, we would have had a very difficult time getting into the States, as the Chinese were excluded from entry. Lastly, in 1921/1924, the United States required all individuals coming to already have a Visa before their entry. Geza had just got on a boat and traveled to Ellis Island. He had no Visa and did not even get citizenship until September of 1927, nineteen years after being in the United States. This made me wonder: was Geza an ‘illegal’ immigrant for twenty years before becoming a citizen? In relation to present day, I found this interesting because many individuals in our nation get angered by those who are here ‘illegally.’

In relation to migrating at a different time, it is evident that my classmates had similarities and differences to my migration story. Reading Izzy’s blog, I learned that her grandparents had came after Irish individuals were considered white. Prior, Irish individuals were not seen as white and were often discriminated against in the United States and seen as a “threat.” I found this to be very interesting as throughout America’s history, we have always labeled certain immigrant groups as non-white in order to ‘other’ them and establish them as a perceived threat. I also found that Izzy and I differ in our family migration as both of her grandparents had to go to the Dublin Embassy in order to be screened for travel to the United States. This differs from my story as Geza had just bought boat tickets and journeyed to New York.

In contrast, Hieu and I have very different migration stories. Hieu is the first of his family to come to the United States as an international student. However, like many immigrants, Hieu came to the United States in search for a different life and higher education. Reading about the history of Vietnamese individuals who tried coming to the United States, it is very apparent that they had a very difficult time getting in, especially during and after the Vietnam War. Yet, even though Hieu and I have very different migration stories, we do share similarities. As I mentioned in our class discussion last month, like Hieu, I really hated PC my freshman year and wanted to go back home. While I was not from another country, PC seemed very foreign to me as it was very different than what I was used to. I am from small town Pennsylvania (the country as many would say at school, LOL) and PC was an extremely different environment for me where I felt like an outsider.

Hieu also experienced similar feelings as he was extremely homesick and had a difficult time popping his comfort bubble. I feel as though both Hieu and I held on to our identity from back home that it was difficult for us to assimilate in this new environment. I really enjoyed learning this, as this shows me that even though Hieu and I have extremely different experiences in our migration stories, we still shared very similar experiences.

Lastly, in reference to Mary Waters Ethinic Options, Geza and the rest of my family that migrated held Hungarian roots close to them as they still spoke the language, made traditional meals, and celebrated certain holidays. However, for their grandchildren and forward, we are able to engage in symbolic ethnicity since we are seen as ‘white.’ This means that we are able to participate in certain customs when we want to. An example of this is my family cooking a traditional Hungarian meal. Those who are seen as non-whites are unable to do this because they are automatically seen as different and coming from somewhere other than America, thus their customs must be very different from ours. My family does not get asked where we are from because we look American and we do not have anything that makes us stand out from others.

Welcome back to my blog! Today, we are going to talk about my family’s assimilation into the United States once they arrived. This proved to be particularly difficult as my great great grandfather is who came over, so all of the facts about his arrival and acceptance have been lost. However, based on some of the information I was able to dig up, I definitely can apply it to the theories of incorporation.

For my great great grandfather, Geza, my family members described his exit of Hungary as simple, and for wanting to experience the typical American Dream of wanting a better way of life. While this is unknown to be true or not, his exit and journey to the United States seemed to be simple and well-planned. Geza had emigrated to Italy in order to take a boat to the United States where he docked at Ellis Island in New York City. Based on what I have been told by family members, much of my family was believed to have  settled within the same area: Lansdale, Pennsylvania. My family presumes that they chose Pennsylvania because they were farmers, and PA had many farming opportunities and also was not a far distance to travel from New York. My mother disclosed that Geza and his wife were very well-educated and spoke very good English. This would aid in their exit as they spoke the native language, and had a sense of human capital since they were well-educated. These two factors made it easier for my family to leave Hungary as they had the means to do so. Their race also played a role in their exit as they identified as white.

In terms of my family’s reception in America, it seems as though they were successful in this area as well. Since it is believed that many of my family members from Hungary came to America around the same time, they had created their own co-ethnic community which allotted for them to have an easier reception into the United States since they had a community to fall back on as another support system. Geza may have struggled in his reception as he did not gain citizenship until roughly seventeen years after being in the U.S. My family members are unaware if this affected his reception into our country, but it could have been a factor. Lastly, since Geza’s reception was relatively successful, he did not suffer a strain in his relationships with his children, thus he was able to remain as the adult-figure. Sometimes when individuals migrate to the U.S., the parents rely on the children as they assimilate faster than the parents, changing the parent-child dynamic. If this occurs, children may find themselves in downward assimilation. However, since this relationship was not reversed, Geza’s children experienced mostly upward assimilation.

For Geza, he experienced upward assimilation combined with biculturalism as he continued to speak his native language, as well as having a community base. My family members do not know if Geza’s children spoke Hungarian, however, my grandfather does not. This suggests that after Geza arrived here, our family experienced mostly upward assimilation as they moved away from their cultural roots. It is considered upward assimilation because through the generations, we have received higher education and have been a part of the middle or upper-middle class. I mentioned prior that Geza was a successful farmer and had this occupation for his entire life. My grandfather also was considered a blue-collar worker as he was a carpenter. My mom, along with her siblings, were a mix of blue-collar and college-educated individuals. This shows that my family was able to continue it’s success in America as they obtained sustainable jobs as well as received education.

Today, my grandparents, mother, aunts, uncles, siblings, and myself ethically identify as American and racially identify as white. If someone were to ask us what our nationality is, we would then respond with Hungarian. However, we engage in symbolic ethnicity which is described by Waters. My family does not celebrate Hungarian holidays, nor do we speak the language. However, we do cook and eat foods from Hungarian culture from recipes that have been passed down from my great grandparents. These foods include: pot-pie (not actual pie, this form has noodles), strudel, and haluski (stuffed cabbage). While we enjoy these foods and recipes from our heritage, this is completely voluntary. We are able to engage in these customs and activities without really understanding what it may be like to be a Hungarian. This is what Waters describes as being the costs of living in a costless society. There is not much variation within my family as we all are pretty Americanized. Since my family is so Americanized, I think this explains why we do not experience much variation form one another because we have come to realize that we are more American than we are Hungarian as our roots to the culture are essentially non-existent, minus the few dishes we continue to enjoy today.

Although I have always been interested in my family ancestry, I was never required to formally research it. Of course, while growing up, I have always heard the stories from my grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles. I have always enjoyed hearing the stories of my relatives, yet, I only took them at face value and never asked targeted questions. I did not know why my great great grandfather came over to America, only that he was from Hungary. I have conducted interviews with my uncle and grandparents and I was surprised to learn what I have about my own migrant story.

My great great grandfather’s name was Geza Molnar Kovacs, and he was born on June 19, 1889 in Temes Megye, Hungary. He had a wife, my great great grandmother, Elizabeth, who was also born in Hungary, and had four children: John, Raymond, Helen, and Frank. While it is unknown what my family’s living conditions were in Hungary, my great great grandfather was a farmer, and the believed reason for my family’s migration to the United States was in an effort to escape the Romanian Empire and a communist-ran nation as well as create a better life for themselves. My great great grandfather was thirty-six years old when he migrated from Port Fiume, Italy on December 3, 1908. Based on research that I conducted, I came to learn that the Port of Fiume was owned by Hungary, and this is why my great great grandfather traveled from this port (Balch, 1910). He traveled solo on a ship, Slavonia, and arrived at Ellis Island on December 29, 1908. His wife and children migrated to the United States the following year where they settled and resided in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. I asked my uncle why they had decided to move and live in Pennsylvania, and he believed that once Geza arrived he was asked what sorts of skills he possessed and was directed where he would be of use. For those of you who may be unaware, Pennsylvania is a HUGE farming state; the entire central part of the state is farms. As I furthered my research, I came across 2010 Census Data that disclosed which states have the greatest Hungarian American populations. To no surprise, Pennsylvania is the fourth state with the largest Hungarian American population (U.S. Census 2010). This further suggests that when Hungarians migrated to the United States, Pennsylvania was a hot bed for their communities. This is another reason as to why my great great grandfather would have chosen to settle in Pennsylvania as there may have been a community of Hungarians where he could still participate in his culture. Geza ended up getting a job at Marten Central Farms. The house that my family lived in in 1930 cost about ten thousand dollars and they owned a radio. My great great grandfather also changed his name to Raymond Smith, and became a legal citizen on September 14, 1927.

As I conducted outside research on my ethnic group, I came to find that there were many different races within Hungary, and the “true” Hungarian was referred to as a Magyar (Warne 1916). Geza was considered a Magyar, and in 1914, there were 47,000 immigrants, forming the largest number of any single group from Austria-Hungary (Warne 1916). Warne also disclosed that most of the immigration movement to the United States from Eastern Europe was due to a higher demand for labor as well as higher wages. Since my family wanted to migrate in the hopes of creating a better life, moving to a nation where there was a higher probability of receiving a job as well as better pay would attract my family to the U.S. Other individuals within my ethnic group also migrated for other reasons such as dissatisfaction with political and social conditions and escaping military service (Warne 1916). Again, my great great grandfather wanted to escape the Romanian Empire.

I also came to learn that my family migrated at an interesting time. Hungarian individuals did not frequently migrate to the United States; in 1880 less than 200,000 migrated, however, by 1910, more than 1,600,000 migrated (Warne 1913). Yet, in 1907, migration dipped as the United States was suffering a financial and commercial depression, causing immigration to drop in the two years following it (Warne 1916). This shows me that my great great grandfather traveled to America at a time where not much migrating was taking place. This also makes me believe that the reason for my families migration was more based on dissatisfaction with political and social aspects in Hungary than their financial situation. As we have learned throughout the course, those who immigrate tend to have money, because it costs money in order to travel. If I consider how Geza migrated, he boarded a boat and moved and settled in Lansdale, Pennsylvania where the rest of his family joined him a year later. In order for Geza to do this, he first needed to spend money to travel from Hungary to Italy so he could board the ship. He then, also, needed to purchase a ticket to travel on the boat to Ellis Island, and lastly, he had to have the funds to purchase a house once he got to America.

As I reflect on the theories and policies we discussed in class, a theory that I believe fits my families story the most is the segmented labor market. This theory states that workers find jobs that they are suited for while employers find workers who are able to perform the job; from here, wages are determined between the two parties (Lecture Notes 9/6). While I am not sure how my great great grandfather obtained his job at the farm, it seems as though this theory would fit best. While it seems as though my family’s migration would not fit the New Economics of Labor, this theory states that it is problematic to think of migration as an individual decision, rather we should think of the decision to migrate as a household decision. It is often likely that families that migrate due to this theory do so in order to diversify income. They normally will send one individual from the family to work, make money, and send this money back home. Moreover, the individual who goes to the host country does so with a plan to eventually return home. Geza had no intention to return back to Hungary. However, it is notable that he was the only one who came to the United States first, as the rest of his family joined him a year later. This could have been because he wanted to make sure the country would be suitable for the rest of his family. This also could have occurred because he may have wanted to grasp bearings himself and have a place for the rest of the family to settle once they arrived; this way it would be a smoother transition for his wife and children. Further, World Systems Theory suggests that it is through changes in the political economy that comes with entry into the world’s capitalist systems shapes migration (Lecture Notes 9/6). As I mentioned prior, my family was leaving Hungary in order to escape the Romanian Empire and Communist-ran nation. With this, Hungary also began industrializing by increasing the machine building industry (Acemoglu and Robinson 2006). Thus, with this increased industrialization, my great great grandfather migrated during this influx of capitalistic production, just as World Systems theory predicts. Apart from theory, the policies that were in effect during the time of my family’s migration did not make it particularly difficult to migrate. The main restriction for when my family migrated was that they had to know how to speak English as this was enforced in 1906, and my family did not arrive until 1908 and 1909. This was implemented as the United States was trying to keep the Chinese out of the country and thought by restricting language, they would be able to inspect those who were trying to come over the boarders (Lecture Notes 9/13). This shows that if my great great grandfather had wanted to migrate and he was from Asia, specifically China, he would have a very difficult time getting into the United States. Another policy that was enacted prior to my family’s arrival was the Expatriation Act that stated that women would lose their citizenship if they married an immigrant man, but men would not if they married an immigrant woman (Lecture Notes 9/13). While my great great grandparents were married, this would be important for my great great grandmother to know and understand if for some reason her and Geza decided to get divorced. Lastly, if my family had decided to wait longer to migrate, say ten or so years, they would have had a much more difficult time migrating to the United States as it was in 1917 that the U.S. became concerned with Southern and Eastern Europeans coming to our nation. If my family had decided to wait, they would have had to pass a literacy test (Lecture Notes 9/13).

I learned a lot about the history of my family and how we came to be in America. I am excited to see what else I will uncover in my upcoming blogs!

References:

Balch, E. G. (1910). Our Slavic fellow citizens. Charities publication committee.

Warne, F. J. (1913). The immigrant invasion (Vol. 3). Dodd, Mead.

Warne, F. J. (1916). The Tide of Immigration. New York: Appleton and Company.