Kimberly Ord

June 21, 2008

Did She Really Want to Come?

I have always been interested in women’s history and women’s rights, but I had never really thought about the experience of female immigrants separate from men or families.  I started thinking about it when we read “Soap and Water.”  I was struck by how isolated the narrator was and how hard it was for her to get ahead.  I had never really thought about what it would be like for a woman immigrating alone or that they even did.  My grandfather emigrated from England with his mother in the 1920s when he was ten.  His father had immigrated two years earlier to get settled and find a job, and then he sent for them.  But, did she really want to come?  Or did she immigrate because that’s what her husband or family wanted?  In my family, the answer to that question has been forgotten, so I decided to try to look into some cases of other women to see why they came to the United States. 

The answer to this question is personal, so I decided to try to look for individual narratives and see if I could find patterns or repeated reasons.  The best resource I found was a DVD of a four part series PBS did on immigration in 2005 called Destination America:  The People and Cultures that Created a Nation.  The DVD was very interesting and the fourth part, “Breaking Free:  A Woman’s Journey,” focused on the immigration of women.  After watching the DVD, I decided to research some of the women featured.  The next two paragraphs detail the stories of two of the women.  I chose these two women because they faced similar circumstances even though one immigrated in 1887 and the other ninety-eight years later in 1995.

Rosa Cavalleri was born in Cuggiono, Italy.  Her family was poor and she was sent to work in a silk mill at the age of five.  When she was fifteen, her family forced her to marry an older local laborer.  Her husband drank heavily and beat her frequently.  Two years after their son was born, her husband decided to immigrate to the Untied States to look for work and Rosa went back to work at the silk factory.  Eighteen months later, he sent for her, telling her to leave their son behind with her mother.  Rosa Cavalleri did not want to leave her son behind and immigrate to America.  (Breaking Free)  Who would want to leave their child and move to a new country to join an abusive spouse?  She went because her mother told her that it would be a “sin against God not to obey” (Breaking Free).  Once in America, she traveled to Missouri to live in an iron mining camp with her husband.  In Missouri, the abuse began again.  After two years, her husband sent her back to Italy to get the money he had saved out of the bank and bring it back.  While in Italy, Rosa noticed the cultural difference between the way she was treated in America and Italy.  In Italy, there were chairs in the bank she was not allowed to sit on because she was poor.  In America, the people in the shops by the mine were polite to her.  During the trip back to America, she decided that she would leave her husband and start a new life for herself and her son.  She returned to the mining camp packed a few things and took her son to Chicago.  Rosa eventually found work as a cook and cleaning woman for the Chicago Commons Settlement House.  She worked there for over forty years and grew to love America.  (Breaking Free)  Just before her death in 1943, Rosa spoke about wishing she could go back to Italy and what she would say to some of the bosses in the silk factory.  She said: 

… I wouldn't be afraid. They wouldn't hurt me now I come from America. Me, that's why I love America. That's what I learned in America: not to be afraid. (Marie Hall Ets, Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970; p. 254.)  (I found this quote on the Countries and Their Cultures Webpage – the webpage quoted the book)

            The other woman whose story I’m going to discuss is Rodi Alvarado.  I found many webpages about Rodi Alvarado, all relating a similar story.  The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, had one of the most comprehensive including links to legal documents.  Like Rosa Cavalleri, Rodi Alvarado married when she was sixteen.  Her husband was a soldier in the Guatemalan military.  For ten years, she was horribly abused by her husband including being beaten while she was pregnant with her two children.  “Rodi’s repeated attempts to obtain protection failed.  The police and the courts [in Guatemala] refused to intervene because it was a ‘domestic’ matter” (Center for Gender and Refugee Studies).  In 1995, fearing her husband would kill her; she left her children with relatives and traveled to the Untied States.  Since 1996, she has been trying to get asylum in the Untied States.  It has been twelve years and she still has not been granted asylum.  It is clear from reading the legal documents that have been presented in her case, that everyone involved believes her story and believes she will be in danger if she returns to Guatemala.  (Center for Gender and Refugee Studies) So, why has it been over a decade without a decision?  The problem is that the current immigration laws do not specifically state that victims of domestic violence are eligible for asylum.  According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, “the applicant must establish that race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the applicant” (Immigration and Nationality Act).  In the PBS video, one of the women in an immigrant support group Rodi belongs to said:  “I think that immigration is afraid to grant you asylum because they think it’ll unleash many cases after yours” (Breaking Free).  After researching Rodi Alvarado’s story, I cannot help but think that she is right.    

            Did I find the answer to my question:  Did she want to come?  For Rodi and Rosa, the answer seems to be: Not really.  During my research, I found that that seemed to be the answer for many of the women.  Some like Rosa Cavalleri immigrated because she saw it as her duty to her husband.  Some like Rodi Alvarado immigrated out of desperation.   I was struck by the difficult choices that many women were forced to make.  Many were faced with choices about leaving their children behind or years of separation from their husbands.  If I were to continue researching this subject, I’d like to learn more about recent female immigrants and how our current immigration laws and policies affect them.  I would also like to do some personal interviews with women who have immigrated to America.    

Works Cited

“Breaking Free:  A Woman’s Journey.” Destination America:  The People and Cultures that Created a Nation.  David Gruben Productions & Penguin Television.  Public Broadcasting System. 2005.

Center for Gender & Refugee Studies Website.  20 June 2008.  <http://cgrs.uchastings.edu> Direct links to the sections on Rodi Alvarado. <http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/campaigns/alvarado.php > <http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/campaigns/update.php>

Countries and Their Cultures Webpage.  20 June 2008. < http://www.everyculture.com>.  Multicultural America Section.  Italian Americans Section.  <http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Italian-Americans.html>      

Immigration and Nationality Act.  Pub. L. 82-414.  Act 208 b.1.B.i.  1957. 

Referenced from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Webpage. 20 June 2008. <www.uscis.gov>.