Refugees: In their own words

Our Lives scrapbook, 1947-1948; E.S. 80 Night School scrapbooks, 2008.020, Box 1; Brooklyn Historical Society

On Wednesday, May 11, BHS will be hosting a program titled Refugee Brooklyn: Stories from Brooklyn’s Refugee Communities. Hosted by Jarrett Murphy, Executive Publisher of City Limits, the program is focused on the experiences of refugees as they adapt to life here in Brooklyn. Panelist include Eileen Reilly, Director for Refugee Services and Workforce Development at CAMBA, Zeinab Eyega, Founder and Executive Director of Sauti Yetu, an advocacy organization for African women and families in NYC, Ninaj Raoul of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, and Alec Brook-Krasny, founding Executive Director of The Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations (COJECO).

The other day, when reading the program announcement, I was immediately reminded of a collection that we have here in the BHS archives. While the lives of refugees are sadly underrepresented in our holdings, we are in possession of two scrapbooks from E.S. 80, an evening school for adults that was located in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, dating from 1947 to 1948.

Our Lives scrapbook index, 1947-1948; E.S. 80 Night School scrapbooks, 2008.020, Box 1; Brooklyn Historical Society

The classes were made up entirely of immigrants who arrived in Brooklyn starting in the early 1920s through the 1940s, the vast majority of which seemed to have been displaced by war. Most were from Southern and Eastern Europe, although I did come across some non-Europeans, such as a Puerto Rican and a Palestinian Jew. Brooklyn had already been well established as a home for Jewish immigrants, and there was an active Jewish community in Coney Island at the time. For more information on our collections relating to the Jewish community in Brooklyn, please see this subject guide.

"My Background" by Regina Markowitz, 1947-1948; E.S. 80 Night School scrapbooks, 2008.020, Box 1; Brooklyn Historical Society

The scrapbooks contain a variety of writing assignments, most of which outline their lives prior to immigration, their experiences in America, and their views on World War II and other current events. Some speak lovingly of their childhood experiences, while others depict the harsh reality of poverty during the interwar period of Europe. War experiences loom large throughout the scrapbooks. In one harrowing passage, a student bluntly describes being sent to a concentration camp.

"The Destroyed City" by Rose Leibowitz, 1947-1948; E.S. 80 Night School scrapbooks, 2008.020, Box 1; Brooklyn Historical Society

Along with war, the other major theme of the scrapbooks is hope. The ideology of the American Dream was alive and well among many of the students, and there seems to be a genuine sense that their lives had improved once arriving in this country. Compared to the horrors of war-torn Europe, it’s not hard to see why life here was depicted so positively. Still, the students still faced the very real threats of anti-Semitism and xenophobia in the United States – something they might have been reluctant to discuss in these school assignments.

"My Impressions of America" by Rachel Silverman, 1947-1948; E.S. 80 Night School scrapbooks, 2008.020, Box 1; Brooklyn Historical Society

The scrapbooks are open and available to the public in BHS’s Othmer Library. To see the scrapbooks please make an appointment with our reference librarian (library@brooklynhistory.org). Our library is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm.