Anna's American Dream
While in Norma, New Jersey, living in the Alliance Colony, Anna worked different jobs to help support her family. “When we had no work in the shop, we worked in the cannery there… And we had never used canned goods till we worked in the cannery and saw how it was done.” In 1920 the Lavins returned to Philadelphia to find more stable employment. There, Anna found a better job in the garment industry, and the Lavin family was able to afford not just better housing, but also furniture!
“After we came back from Norma, we knew that people had more…. We had more, too. We ran into the little place on, I think it was Lawrence Street. And at first, it was heaven to us, because we heard music early in the morning...But then, we saved for whatever we bought. ... [I] worked [at] that time, Broad and Reed...and on the way home, we walked, of course. Even though it was only a nickel fare, we didn't have that nickel. And we saved that up, and there was a beautiful—to me, a beautiful living room set. We had an empty room, and it was in the window. It was marked ten dollars…. We had a little safe, opened it up, and we had a little over ten dollars. And my mother and I walked up there to see whether it would be suitable. And it was marked ten dollars, and I shook in my boots, maybe that it would be sold by the time we got there. And that was on Broad Street…. And the man, he was afraid that we would want to back out. And he loaded the furniture--this was at night, after work— and loaded it on a pushcart and took it over to the house. And I was so glad nobody was out to see that we were buying furniture at night that was coming...because when they looked in the window and they saw that there was an empty room— people looked in windows too, then-- and saw an empty room. ‘Oh, they don't have anything.’ So, and then I knew that people had more than we did…. And we polished it up. Oh, and that room looked like heaven. We had a whole room of furniture!” – Anna Lavin, July 14, 1982
On August 17, 1925, Anna went to City Hall to apply for citizenship. It was only then that she first learned where she came from and how her family had gotten to the United States. More than a half century later, Anna recalled fondly the day she became an American citizen.
“I remember getting my own citizenship papers. I was scared out of my wits, because I sat up all night reading rules and regulations, and when I got there there was a couple of nuns were getting their papers. And… it was Judge Gordon. I remember his name. He was the one that was interviewing everybody. And they went through like, no questions asked or anything. I go, ‘Gee, that's fine.’ But when it was my turn, every question in the book was thrown at me (laugh) and I sweated it out (laughs). But I got my papers.” – Anna Lavin, July 14, 1982
When asked about the Great Depression, Anna shared that it never really impacted her life. “We were poor before, we were poor after.”
What did make a difference in her life, however, was the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), through which Anna was able to receive a living wage and benefits.
“I was union conscious because my aunts belonged to the union and one of their friends, Ida Chestnut .... she was the one that really started the union at Ladies Shirt Waists. … She was a fighter. First of all, she knew English very well. She ... had a good tongue, and she used to make handkerchiefs for the family, for the kids... We didn’t use them. We pinned them to our waistline, or belt, whatever we were wearing. We carried them, and nobody else had them. After that, there was only twelve to a dozen when they started the union. – Anna Lavin, July 9, 1982
Anna worked for fifty-two years, most of that time as a machine operator in the clothing industry, before she retired at the age of 65. It was through her membership in the ILGWU, that when she was 75, she was able to get an apartment at the Sidney Hillman Apartments, which she loved.
“And as I say, the Italian people who had beautiful little homes and beautiful furniture and expensive stuff...Why move into a one-room apartment with a divider which is a bookcase? So I said, ‘I never had that before, so this is wonderful for me. I have covered floors which I don’t have to scrub and—' But I did get a refrigerator right away.” – Anna Lavin, July 9, 1982
When interviewed at the age of 90, Anna was happy with how her life had turned out.
“I really enjoyed life, always. Always. Even—well, of course we didn't know any better. Nobody had any more than we did. And if they did, so if they had another slice of bread, we had enough.” – Anna Lavin, July 14, 1982