American schoolchildren are taught that the "tall lady with the torch" represents freedom, but do people born into freedom truly appreciate its value? Those individuals who have come to the United States of their own volition understand its value in a very special way. Reaction to the Statue of Liberty is just one aspect of the immigrant experience captured in the PBS special, They Came to America, scheduled to air on 8 January 2003 (see local listings for details).

It was after surviving the Holocaust that Anita White, one of the individuals interviewed on the program, first saw the Statue of Liberty. She relates her experience of that moment.

"All I knew was that this was the symbol of freedom–freedom from fear. There were four or five miserable years of constant humiliation and fear, and every moment was one moment of life. You won a life for one second, but you had to worry about the next second," Anita says. "And seeing that beautiful statue, I cannot begin to tell you what it meant to me. It was freedom; it really was unbelievable."

Even eighty-six years after immigrating, Elda Del Bino Willetts remembers the moment she first saw the statue after her journey from Italy.

"And there was the Statue of Liberty. I really kind of jam up now because it was such a wonderful experience–knowing we had all passed [the examinations] and had all come into America. To this day, any time I see the Statue of Liberty, I feel like I did the first time I set foot in this country."

Alex Yemenidjian, who came to the United States from Argentina as a teenager, relates what the statue means to him.

"It is so symbolic; it isn’t just a statue. All over the world, there are statues of people who conquered countries, or ex-presidents, or ex-dictators. This was not about a person," he says. "This was about a concept. It’s about an idea. It’s about liberty. The United States really respects and stands for what the Statue of Liberty is all about. And that’s why I can’t see anybody looking at it and not being in awe."

And Ovidiu Colea, who made a dramatic escape from Romania in 1958, fell so in love with the Statue of Liberty that he started a business making them! Today, he is the largest manufacturer of Statue of Liberty replicas in North America.

The PBS show, which focuses primarily on immigration over the past 150 years, includes many interviews with immigrants, such as Angela’s Ashes author Frank McCourt of Ireland, and Congressman Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary.

Descendants of immigrants, such as comedian Cheech Marin, who talks about his grandparents coming from Mexico as teenagers and Lisa See, who wrote the best-seller On Gold Mountain about her Chinese family, also share their families’ experiences.

"On gold mountain is the term the Chinese use to describe the United States," Lisa explains. "I always liked that term because I think immigrants from all over the world have used the idea to come here and look for gold–gold paved on the streets."

She recalls how her great-grandfather made the transition to living in the United States. "Fong See really had a vision of what he wanted to become. He wanted to be successful. He wanted to achieve the American dream–the American dream from his perspective. Very early on, he abandoned Chinese dress and instead wore Western-style clothing–the little bowler hat and tie pin and all of that. He had a great love of automobiles and was the first Chinese in America to own a car."

Although the individuals featured in this program trace their roots to countries around the globe, many of the themes they relate are universal to all immigrants–the motivations for coming to America, the struggle to adapt to the new lifestyle, the hope of achieving the American dream, and the satisfaction of finding it within reach.

Alex Yemenidjian’s parents brought their children to America so they could receive a better education. Alex describes an unexpected visit from his father: "The day I got my Master’s Degree from USC, I was at the office working, and my secretary said to me, ‘Your father is in the lobby.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? My father has never been to my office.’ She said, ‘Well, there’s a gentleman out here who says he’s your father.’ So I went out to the lobby and there he was. He came into my office and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ I was concerned. And he said, ‘I just came here to tell you that, as of today, I have accomplished all the goals in my life.’"

If you’d like to complement all the facts you’ve been gathering about your immigrant ancestors with a better understanding of their experiences, carve out a little time on the evening of January 8th to watch They Came to America. It may be the closest you’ll come to walking in your immigrant ancestors’ shoes.

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak is the author of Honoring Our Ancestors: Inspiring Stories of the Quest for Our Roots (Ancestry, 2002). She can be reached through her website at <www.honoringourancestors.com>.

Return to the Ancestry Magazine January/February 2003 table of contents.