Zohr 1

Tylor Zohr
Dr. Harrison
Honors Seminar
17 October 2015
Honors Paper 1

Hello, my name is Felix. I come from a long history of Poles, but I ended up in the
northernmost province of the Austrian Empire, Galicia (Bukowczyk 26). Well that is until I
moved to Detroit in 1910 when I was just 19 years old. When I arrived I had no idea what to
expect. I knew the general history of Detroit, beginning as a small town in 1710 with a large
population of French families, but that was almost 200 years ago (Tocqueville 239). I have had
many friends leave their homes in Galicia in order to find a chance at a new life in America.
When I arrived in 1910 I realized that many of my friends had ended up here as well, but the new
life we imagined was not what we expected. This is going to be a story of my journey and
assimilation into the society of Detroit, where I cover my daily life and role in the everyday
society as an employee in the automobile industry.
The transition from Galicia to Detroit was not as simple as I had imagined. It was nice to
see a generally large representation of Polish heritage in Detroit; however, our living conditions
were not ideal (Williams 15). I left my home with very little money, so I started off like many
other immigrants in the city: poor. Personally I started off as an unskilled laborer, but over time I
was able to work my way into the automobile industry that had given Detroit its foundation in
the world (Williams 15). It has been many years since I first arrived here, but I am just now

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starting to realize the impact the immigration of people had on the city itself. Quite a few years
ago I read an article from 1915 in the Detroit Free Press that was titled: "Immigrants Build
Detroit Industry, Report Declares" (Immigrants). Leaving the rural countryside of Galicia to
eventually end up in North America and helping make the industry of Detroit a great success was
an amazing journey. The choice I made to leave my home and everyone I knew at the just idea of
starting a more successful life was hard, but it was the best possible choice I could have ever
made. America, and Detroit in specific, was a magnet for immigrants, and for good reasons
(Martelle 85).
Initially when I arrived in Detroit I began working in the construction business. The city
was in desperate need of people that could preform physical labor, and most of the jobs were left
open for the new immigrants to take (Bukowczyk 24). I grew up doing physical labor on my
family's farm, so naturally I took on a job. Never would I have imagine I would end up working
in the automobile factories after a few long years of working construction (Bukowczyk 26). The
hardest thing about working in this great city was not the labor itself necessarily, but the
language barrier that had been developing. It seemed that most immigrant workers simply
learned the basics of communication among each other and stopped learning after that. This
minimal competence hindered the jobs in some cases, but whatever got work done and on time
was considered alright (Fisher 35).
I was able to somewhat successfully work myself into a steady job that was able to
support me financially. Things were going fantastically, better than I could have hoped for. For
me and my fellow Polish immigrants, we were able to start taking part in upper-class activities
due to our success (Bukowczyk 30). I want to go back to that article from the Detroit Free Press.
Another point that the article made was that Detroit's globally known industries are what

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attracted immigrants to the city, and as a result the immigrants came (Immigrants). Because the
immigrants came, the advancement and current success of the industries is reliant on the
immigrants (Immigrants). Well, I guess I really am unable to say "current success." I never really
got around to mentioning the current year. At the time of writing this, it is 1933.
The industry was booming, but it all started to fall apart four years ago when we, as a
nation, fell into a depression. Detroit is going through a hard time right now, but it is not just
Detroit. The entire country is struggling. It no longer is the struggle of the immigrants trying to
become accepted in America, because even the Americans are struggling. Like many, I was hit
hard due to the automobile industry falling apart. The factories used to be filled with people
shoulder to shoulder on the assembly lines and with people taking tours just to see how their
vehicles were made (Rivera). It is hard to have any hope in the future of the industry in times like
these, but I guess that is why Diego Rivera came to Detroit.
Just a few weeks ago, the world famous artist completed his mural in the Detroit Institute
of Art. It is, in a way a, great tribute to the booming industries, but also to so much more(Rivera).
To me it is a great sign of hope. It is a look into the past, but also the future. I came to America,
and Detroit in specific, because I had faith that I would find a successful life in a city that is
unlike any other. After so many years of working hard, to go from unskilled labor in construction
to helping one of the most prominent industries in the world, anything is possible.
I have given you all a summary of my journey of assimilation in Detroit, short and surely
missing some key things, but still the same story. I left home at an extremely young age;
however, I do not regret it. I took a massive risk and gamble, hoping that I would make
something out of the very little I had. When I arrived I was lucky enough to find others that were

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just like me, poor and in search of opportunity. I grew up. I went through hard times, worked
hard and stressful jobs, but in the end I became cemented in the history of the city. I found
myself working in one of the most successful industries with a steady and paying job. I would
say I started as a young and unexperienced Polish kid, but now I can say I am truly living a
successful American life in perhaps the most American city in America.

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Works Cited
Bukowczyk, John. "Polish Rural Culture and Immigrant Working Class Formation, 1880-1914."
Polish American Studies 41.2 (1984) :23-44. Web.

Fisher, Phillip. Democratic social Space. Still the New World: American Literature in a
Culture of Creative Destruction. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 33-55.

"IMMIGRANTS BUILD DETROIT INDUSTRY, REPORT DECLARES." Detroit Free Press

(1858-1922): 1. Aug 08 1915. ProQuest.Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2012. Print.

Rivera, Diego. Detroit Industry. 1932-1933. Fresco. Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit.

Tocqueville, Alexis. Fortnight in the Wilderness. Tocqueville in America. Ed. George W.

Pierson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1938. 229-259.

Williams, Jeremy. Images of America. Detroit: The Black Bottom Community. Chicago: Arcadia
Publishing, 2009. Print.