Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 3h

"Actually knowledgeable."

Go look it up.

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 3h

This popped up in my reddit feed and I actually said "NO!," out loud, like there was a chance I would somehow be force fed banana cereal.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO3S...

Kellogg's Banana Bubbles UK TV Advert - 1994

YouTube video by All Star Archive Videos

www.youtube.com

2 3

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 5h

It's not an issue of trust, it's an issue of function, of having the mechanisms to do any of that, which just did not exist.

But like I said, I don't care anymore, people can believe what they want.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 5h

Because it just didn't work that way. I don't know what to tell you people.

People got on a ship in their home country. They got off the ship at Ellis Island. Ellis Island workers checked their identity against the shipping manifest & ensured they weren't a "burden."

That was all.

1 1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 6h

Fine, I truly, truly do not give a fuck anymore if people want to pretend that the people who worked at Ellis Island changed people's names. There is literally no record of this ever having happened, but go ahead and believe whatever you want. Please leave me the fuck alone.

2 14

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 7h

www.amazon.com/-/he/Thomas-...

White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945

Amazon.com: White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945: 9780195155433: Guglielmo, Thomas A.: Books

www.amazon.com

3

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 7h

www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07...

Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was) | The New York Public Library

There is a myth that persists in the field of genealogy, or more accurately, in family lore, that family names were changed at Ellis Island…

www.nypl.org

1 2 5

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 7h

www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07...

Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was) | The New York Public Library

There is a myth that persists in the field of genealogy, or more accurately, in family lore, that family names were changed at Ellis Island…

www.nypl.org

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 7h

But they never had to spell their names because what they did was check a shipping manifest. They were not in charge of writing the shipping manifest and did not write anything afterwards.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 7h

But papers were different than 'Ellis Island," where no one got any papers.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 13h

A shipping manifest is not "papers."

People were not given a copy of the shipping manifest.

1 1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 13h

No.

I used my own family *as an example* of how things worked, not as the source.

Here is one source, of which there are many.

www.amazon.com/Are-Italians...

Are Italians White?

Are Italians White? [Jennifer Guglielmo, Salvatore Salerno] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Are Italians White?

www.amazon.com

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 13h

BECAUSE MY FUCKING POINT WAS THAT THEY DIDN'T GET CHANGED AT FUCKING ELLIS ISLAND.

The people making the ship manifests were not American. People may have Anglicized their names before or after, but it did not happen in any kind of official manner & they were free to change it after.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 13h

There were no "papers" from Ellis Island.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 13h

That is why I did not SAY Jewish. Did I say Jewish anywhere in there? Nope, I did not.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 13h

THEY DID NOT WRITE THE NAMES THEMSELVES.

I gave examples from my own family to explain certain things that are, in fact, true whether you or anyone likes it or not.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 18h

Is that "someone at Ellis Island changed other people's last names and had the authority to do this?"

2

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 18h

My qualification is my ability to read the approximately 87,000 sources that say "No one at Ellis Island changed anyone's name."

I'm sorry this is not good enough for you.

2

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 18h

The national archives does not say that names were officially changed at Ellis Island.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 18h

THANK YOU!

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 18h

Yes. Names were changed. But not at Ellis Island.

There also would not have been processing papers from Ellis Island, because they did not do that there.

1

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 19h

Pretty much that, except I'm also saying that name changes occurred either prior to entry (on the shipping manifest, by someone from their own country who spoke their language) OR afterwards, & they likely never even saw the shipping manifest or were given something with their "new name" from there.

3

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 19h

Yes, I was speaking specifically of, say, Italian or Irish immigrants. There was absolutely systemic discrimination against Jewish people in the US.

1 2

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 19h

The translations were likely not perfect (we still do not pronounce Russian names correctly), but it wasn't like "We don't care what your name was, this is your name now!" so much as a phonetic translation to the Roman alphabet.

2

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 19h

There had been translations from Cyrillic languages to languages in the Roman alphabet long before Ellis Island even existed. Romania, at the time, was in a transitional phase from Cyrillic to Latin during the 19th century.

Hell, Tsar Peter III didn't even speak Russian.

2 1