Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section003/Tam Levine

Overview
Tam Levine, also known as Sam Slatkin, (1892-unknown) was a Jewish, Russian tailor in Gastonia, North Carolina, who was interviewed as a part of the Federal Writer’s Project in 1939 by John H. Abner.

Early Life
Tam Levine was born in 1892 in Russia. He grew up in a Jewish family and knew how to speak his “native language, Jewish,” as well as Russian. He began school at the age of five and remained in school until the age of twelve, when he became a kindergarten tutor in a small, agricultural village. Staying with local Jewish families, he taught around 20 students during the day and attended night school to improve his education. His school was closed in 1905 as a result of the Russo-Japanese War and he returned home. In 1906, his father died and he moved to the United States of America to live with his uncle, a butcher, as his adopted son.

Life in America
Still age twelve, Levine went to New York to work at a clothing factory. He then took a job in Bowman to work as a tailor with a relative. He saved $100 from work to bring his sister to America. Levine lost his tailoring job, so he began making alterations for Bottle Tailoring Company of Bowman. The manager stole some of Levine’s pay and due to his financial situation, the shop closed and Levine lost another job. He found another job making alterations and pressing in the room above Dan Lefkowitz’s store. To make additional income, he began making suits as well. By 1917 he had a lot of money saved and a car, which enabled him to take a course to enhance is designing abilities in 1918. His new skills increased his income and he began making army uniforms, and more money, but he spent most of it.

Marriage
In 1919, Levine met Mary Meyers in Bowman and quickly asked her to marry him, but she said it was too soon. When he returned for Christmas, they decided to get married and his new wife persuaded him to buy a home in Brooks with all that he had saved and more. They lived an extravagant lifestyle, despite a moderate income, and had their first child, Doris, on January 19, 1920. They wanted to move back to Bowman in 1921, but ended up unhappy and in a smaller home after some financial miscommunication. They had three more children, Barney, on January 19, 1922, David in May, 1924, and Eugene in 1927.

Business got worse, his wife got sick and their affluent lifestyle caught up to them. Levine went broke in 1929 and was barely surviving in 1930, so he took a $1000 loan on a house, but when he put it in the bank, the bank closed from the Great Depression and he lost it all. He went broke a few more times, each time causing his wife to split from him, but she returned to him as soon as he got back on his feet. Eventually, he could no longer afford his wife’s extravagant lifestyle. They separated for good in 1936 and she had him arrested and charged with non-support. He was let out of jail under the condition that he paid his wife and kids $15 a week for the remainder of their lives.

The Great Depression and 1930s Unemployment
The Great Depression began in late 1929 with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929 being one of its first consequential events. The Depression caused many banks, mostly insolvent and illiquid banks, out of operations. By 1933, depositors had seen over $140 billion vanish, real GDP has dropped by 25% and unemployment had risen from 3% to 25%. With the sharp rise in unemployment, even those “classified as employed were on short time and some had also experienced wage cuts.” The employment uncertainty and loss of income combined to result in a 10% drop in consumer spending in 1930. Many workers were unemployed for a period longer than a year. There was also a steep drop in earnings and hours work for the employed members of 1930s society. The male population saw a more drastic increase in unemployment; the percentage of employed members of society that were male dropped from 77.5% to 67.5%. By the end of the Depression, the stock market had lost 80% of its value, more than 7000 banks had closed and the value of Americans’ money dropped by more than 10%.

Antisemitism and Anti-Immigration in the United States
There was a rise in Antisemitism and Anti-Immigration in the United States as a result of the Great Depression. Nativist and Patriotic attitudes caused Americans to discriminate against immigrants and many deemed Jews to be “inherently anti-American,” and saw them as threatening because they were different. Many of the nativist Americans joined groups, like the Ku Klux Klan and the disbanded Know Nothing Party, to take America back to its roots and rid America of anyone who was not a “full-blooded Caucasian” and those who were “biologically and culturally less intelligent.” Restrictions imposed by the nativists in government allowed immigration only from northwestern Europe. The prejudices towards Jews and immigrants resulted in lower pay, discrimination and stereotyping by much of the American public. Not only did Jews bear the brunt of the blame for the Great Depression, but they were also one of the populations most heavily impacted by it, such as one third of New York’s Jewish population losing employment.