Disc 3: Becoming Americans

Price: $19.95

The Streets Were Paved With Gold Part II looks at how life on the Lower East Side transformed the new immigrants. "Greenhorn" Jews adopted the language and culture of their new country as fast as they could. They formed labor unions to improve working conditions and pay in the sweatshops of the "needle trade." Many young Jewish women were in the forefront of change. The Yiddish theater provided an escape from the daily grind; Isaiah Sheffer recalls his time as a child actor. Eventually, the children and grandchildren of the immigrants moved out of the Lower East Side to better neighborhoods and higher status, leaving behind the customs, religion and language of the old country. Part II is also filled with oral histories and music.

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