Market Day in Hueypan ((J. Friedlander, Being Indian in Hueypan, Palgrave, 1975))

A scene from the film Hester Street (1975)

We have spent the semester studying the histories and cultures of two immigrant groups who have settled in New York: East European Jews, who abandoned Russia-Poland between 1881 and 1924; and indigenous and Mestizo Mexicans, who started coming to New York in significant numbers in the 1980s.  One group is identified with the great wave of immigration at the turn of the 19th century; while the other is identified with the great wave of immigration going on at the present time. As we read about the cultures of these two peoples, we tried to understand the political, social and economic circumstances that motivated so many of them to leave home when they did and come to New York.

By following our class’s various themes, we invite you to enter the world of Jews then and Mexicans now, in both Eastern Europe and Mexico (there) and New York City (here).

—Professor Judith Friedlander