In the Shadow of the Statue of Liberty: Immigrants, Workers, and Citizens in the American Republic, 1880-1920 (1992, Paperback)

The widely held conception of the Statue of Liberty is a bright picture of golden opportunities and freedom. Essays within In the Shadow of the Statue of the Liberty reveal a far different account of the experiences of immigrants “as well as developments in political ideology.” According to the anthology’s editor, Marianne Debouzy, the first three essays that comprise Part I discuss “the representations of America” as a model republic that offered extensive prospects to emigrants from Europe. Drawing on the experience of immigrants once they arrived in the United States, Part II confronts those representations with the harsh realities of an industrial nation with only limited freedom. Part III analyzes the “social movements, intellectual influences and militant networks in the old and new world.” Finally, Part IV examines matters of citizenship and republicanism in an attempt to expose the limited opportunities for working class political participation.

Dirk Hoerder, Rudolph J. Vecoli, and Lars-Göran Tedebrand discuss the “image of the model republic” and how immigrants’ perception of the United States changed upon their arrival. Respectively, these essays analyze Germans, the Italian leftists, and the Swedes. Emigrants from Europe soon found that they were judged by natural born Americans by what they “were not” instead of what they “were”: not Protestant, unskilled, uneducated, spoke little or no English. Thus, feelings of Nativism once again rose up across America. Simply put, immigrants were not liked and were often discriminated against. The “image of the model republic” whose land offered many opportunities if only one was willing to work soon drifted away. The image of America was replaced by deep criticisms of her hostile environment that refused to accept outsiders.

In response to poor working conditions and limited opportunities, many immigrants participated in a nationwide movement that demanded, for example, an eight-hour working day. Emigrants from Europe brought with them their socialistic ideals and participated in a largely transatlantic experience. Several of the essays point to the connections between American and European radicalism. The incident at Haymarket, for instance, exposed the rights of workers and the limits of American freedom. Instead of Lady Liberty, the aftermath of Haymarket became the operative symbol of the nation and perhaps reality for many immigrant groups. Additionally, “the affair caused considerable concern in the European labor movement” and generated much “sympathy and solidarity for the accused had come from diverse European quarters.” Essay authors also address European socialism, the labor movement in the U.S., workers’ rights and responsibilities, and immigrant participation in local and state political sectors.

Lacking in this anthology is the answer to one begging question: since so many immigrants faced harsh living and working conditions as well as staunch discrimination, why did they continue to flock to the United States? Furthermore, ideas presented in the essays are not altogether innovative; historians have long recognized that immigrants were oppressed. They were faced with a life alongside Americans who exhibited xenophobia, a fear of foreigners. The only fresh perspective proffered in this compilation is the concept of a “transatlantic dimension of their (the immigrants’) experience.