It was 1 am, April 1989 when my father landed in Detroit. Born in a small Indian village about an hour from the coast, the first thing that stood out was the weather–it was bitterly cold. Luckily, it wasn’t too long before a friend of a friend, also an immigrant from the ... Read More »
The trees whizzed by me; I knew that if I stayed much longer I’d be killed. In the days right after the first World War, you could never trust anyone. After what felt like hours of running, noises and light began to appear. The hammer of a blacksmith, the cry of a baby. This is what I’ve been looking for. ... Read More »
He eventually became a very successful attorney and even argued a case against GM in the Supreme Court for workers’ rights. Many years ago, a young boy named Jacob lived in a small Russian town with his family. He lived happily without a care in the world until one day his father left to escape from being drafted into the ... Read More »
It is 1975, and Russia was known as the Soviet Union, a strong, communist country that strictly limited Russians’ rights. Vlad was born in 1971 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which was part of the USSR. Vlad (name changed by request) experienced significant hearing loss at the age of 9 months due to a high fever and his parents immediately decided that listening and ... Read More »
Liz Gulevich was one of our featured storytellers at our salon November 9, 2014 called “Foreign Correspondents: Immigrant Odysseys.” She tells a captivating story about the empowerment of her immigrant mother during her mother’s sunset years in Palo Alto, California. There’s a surprise near the end that involves an audience member. Read More »
George H. Northcott was my grandfather. He came to Detroit, Michigan in 1919 from London, Ontario, Canada. He was a mechanical engineer and led a group of engineers who designed and built the London Port Stanley Railroad. He also worked on the great fleet of the ore boats that plied the Great Lakes. (My father was born in Duluth, Minnesota.) ... Read More »
Doris Stoddart McDonald was born in 1907 in the small town of Colchester, Ontario, just outside of London. Her maternal grandparents were from Devon and her father was the first in his family to emigrate from England to Canada. She always – from the time she was a little girl – wanted to be a nurse. After high school she ... Read More »
Bob Rosenzweig shared with me the story of his grandma’s harrowing journey from Bobroisk, Russia, to Osaka, Japan, to Seattle, WA, and finally to Detroit, MI. His grandma’s name was Rivka Lifschitz. Rivka was born around 1896 in Russia. Her husband, oldest daughter, and oldest son had gone first from Russia to Detroit, MI in 1911. It was around 1914 ... Read More »
Bessie and Phillip Espar were born in a small Yiddish town of Olizarka, Russia. They married young and had three children; Meyer, Ruth, and Sadie (the interviewee). Meyer and Ruth were born in Russia and Sadie was born in the U.S. Phillip was known to be spoiled and high-spirited, and was always ready for a fistfight. He was apprenticed by ... Read More »
The Story of Samuel and Elizabeth Cavanaugh (Also Kavanagh: In Ireland they spelled their name with a K when they came to America they changed it to C.) Elizabeth (Liz) Keegan, daughter of John Keegan and Mary Ann Coleman Keegan was born in Dublin, Ireland on 6/7/1860. Samuel (Sam) Cavanaugh, son of Patrick Cavanaugh and Sarah Reed, was born on ... Read More »