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This simple piece of luggage spoke volumes to me; I would share this with my students as an exercise into how immigration shapes culture, society, political discourse, and identity. I would have students imagine their apartment, home, or space - what they would bring with them if forced to leave their motherland. What do the items speak about you as an individual and as a microcosm your own society? What things can’t you bring? How might that hurt you or work for you. What can you bring that are intangible? Language? Food? Does that shift or change even though they’re not physical. So many ideas swirling around in my head!

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These objects show that a culture, valued and nurtured though it might be, may remain constant for a time. For a culture to survive and thrive however it must evolve and adapt to remain relevant. Likewise, national boundaries over a person's lifetime can be seemingly long lasting but are not necessarily permanent.

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Passport of Anna Kudrna and her daughter Marie, 1923

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Passport of Anna Kudrna and her daughter Marie, 1923

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This story (Frank immigrated in 1912, then the rest of the family had to wait) illustrates the multilayered factors shaping people’s immigration fortunes:

Nationality

Home county / culture norms

Gender

Race

Class

Global events (changes in geopolitics + immigration law + what your country is!)

U.S. immigration policy

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Of late, photos of oneself have become ubiquitous yet this is a relatively recent development. Explaining this fact to students and then asking them to explain why one or more of these photos was so important that precious money was spent on taking it, what it symbolized to them, and why it was perhaps one of the few items brought across oceans to a new life.

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Barnett Mirelowitz naturalization papers, 1926

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Barnett Mirelowitz naturalization papers, 1926

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Russian Jewish immigration grew after 1900 under the pogroms.

They were a prominent family in Vilma (right near where my family came from!), owned a glass factory —> BUT due to national events, had to change their name & flee to start over in America

History of your name & family <=> U.S. attitudes toward Jewish refugees & the road to the quota system

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both to ‘melt into’ a more generic ‘American’ cultural identity, but also in solidarity with other minority groups to resist the more nefarious forces of assimilation (eg into capitalist alienation, or white supremacy)

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Gertrude’s bear is obviously a well-loved item. Gertrude received it from her uncle after her favorite porcelain doll was broken. The bear becomes part of family history and ties to American history through the story of TR and how he would not shoot a bear cub on a hunting trip. His nickname appeals to an American couple producing stuffed bears and they receive permission to use ‘Teddy’ as the name for the bear.

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Luggage shows immigrants brought their entire lives with them but they could only carry so much so they had to chose what was important to them. Every immigrant brought different things.

I think it could be a really fun activity to have students pack a 'suitcase' and what they think they couldn't leave behind.

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The zither, but music and instruments in general. Music is so powerful and when you don't have the words, music helps you express those things. It keeps you connected to your past through the unique music and instruments of each region of the world and gives you a way to connect to others in your new life because music is universal.

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Just the differences between the 3 groups and their why's yet all are supremely affected by the Johnson-Ried act.