They worked their a%$es off and tolerated a ton of bourgeois xenophobia on their way to assimilation. My grandfather retired at 67 THEN took a job at the local coke plant... that is 'COKE' as in steel plant... a dirty, dangerous and hard job. He WALKED to work daily and was well known to the police, who would give him a lift in bad weather!!!
Within a generation all the grandchildren were graduated from college and the whole family was on its feet.
The last thing any of us wants to do is revert to the status of ‘victim’. (BTW-bourgeois xenophobia dies real hard and it AIN'T a strictly American character flaw... it's all over the world.... !)
Great post! You speak for many.