-
-
My family (mother, father, two older brothers, and myself) left Greece because of taxation and better economic oppertunities in America.
-
My brothers got jobs at a shoeshine stand with my father and my mother and I got jobs at a candy cart as a street vendor.
-
When fluctations in the American economy put street vendors out of bussines, we moved to Rhode Island. In Rhode Island there was a large Greek population, we chose a neighborhood where the Greeks made a living off of lobster fishing.
-
When the Bill of 1909 attempted to ban all non-citizens from lobster fishing, along with the danger of the work, my mother decided that the Oklahoma Territory would be a good place to move.
-
After three years of lobster fishing, my father was caught in the ocean during a summer storm and drowned. Fearing for my brother's lives and the threat of the Bill of 1909, my mother forbade them to enter the fishing industry, resulting in our family moving to find other work.
-
My mother, two older brothers, and I moved to the Oklahoma Territory to open a restraunt with Greek food.
-
Using most of our saved extra money, we bought train tickets for the journey west.
-
I remember waiting outside the building as my mothe and eldest brother bought a small piece of land in the town.
-
After two months of hard work, my mother and I cut the ribbon and let the crowd of townspeople into our restraunt.
-
A favorite in town, our Greek restraunt has made a sizable profit, enough to live out our lives comfortably in town, and even enough to gift my brothers with land to farm and raise their families on, and as for me, I will inheirit the restraunt and become caretaker of my mother.
