Emilia Coates
My subject is named Emilia Coates, my grandmother. She is now 92 years old, and lives in Los Angles, California. Her immigration story is quite interesting. Her father was born and raised in Guatemala, and immigrated into America, specifically New York. In New York, the only job he could get was a job of construction, working while attempting to get an education. While in New York, he met my grandmother’s mother, and they married. Her parents had immigrated there from Hungary, where they were both born. He also went to Columbia University to further his education. My grandmother was then born in New York, and grew up there, facing lots of adversity, as it was a time of strong prejudice against foreigners, like it is now. She had a Spanish last name, and attended a basically all white school, where she was the only Latin American there. She faced tons of discrimination coming through high school because of her skin color and last name. She and her family had to try not to speak Spanish in public, as it was heavily looked down on. Her mother had to cover her mouth in public to stop her from speaking in Spanish to avoid trouble. Her father missed his home country, so he decided that he wanted to move back to his home, and so they all moved back to Guatemala. They settled down and lived there, in Guatemala, for 14 years. After those 14 years, and accustoming to life in Guatemala, they finally moved back into America, going this time to live in California, only because her mother had gotten homesick and wanted to return. At that time, life was still rough for foreigners. Discrimination was obviously still a big problem, but there were even things such as curfews for foreigners. They were not allowed out on the streets after 10 PM. After she graduated high school, my grandmother finally started to feel more integrated. She eventually married an American man, and left most of her Latin roots behind, adopting an American last name, Coates. The one thing she said she thought really struck her the hardest was the fact that you always feel like an outsider in America, you never get over that. You never truly get accepted by society. That is the story of my grandmother’s immigration.
