Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section33/Allan F. Leigh

Overview
Captain Allan F. Leigh was a white sea captain living in Miami, Florida in the 1930’s at the time of his interview with George Conway as part of the Federal Writers' Project.

Early Life
Captain Allan F. Leigh was born in Hull, England to a poor fishing couple. He was the oldest of nine children. Capt. Leigh’s father owned a fishing boat. As a child, Capt. Leigh always looked up to his father and aspired to be a sea captain. In Capt. Leigh's adolescence, his father’s boat sank and his father was never seen again. Two years later, Capt. Leigh’s mother died and his younger siblings were sent to live with their aunt in the countryside. At the time of his mother’s death, Capt. Leigh had already begun working as an assistant chef on a fishing boat, so he chose to stay in Hull and work. After working for three years on the boat, Capt. Leigh saved enough for a ticket to London, where he had heard they needed sea captains. Once he arrived, he struggled to find work and eventually began working as a fisherman. One evening after work, Capt. Leigh met a drunken American sailor at a bar who asked him to join his crew as a cook. Capt. Leigh obliged and was told he was going to an African port, but ten months later arrived in New York City.

Life in the United States
Once in New York City, Capt. Leigh again struggled to find a job, in part due to his immigrant status. Eventually, he joined a fishing fleet and made a decent living as a fisherman in the summer and as an assistant carpenter in the winter months (when the fishing season was over). After five years of working this job, the manager of the fishing company asked Capt. Leigh to be the master of one of his fishing vessels in the Florida Cape. Capt. Leigh and his wife Dora, who he had met in New York, moved with the fishing company to Miami, Florida and had three children. In 1933, during the heart of the Great Depression, Capt. Leigh’s company had a bad fishing year and earned essentially no money over the fishing season. Luckily, they had saved enough money to make it through the winter and carried them to the next season. At the time of the interview, Capt. Leigh and his family were living happily and comfortably in their family home in Miami.

Immigrant Status in the Early 1900s
During the 1920s, a new wave of anti-immigrant sentiment fell over the United States. The United States participated in World War I during the 1910s, which prompted the American public to become increasingly afraid of foreigners. The new restrictionist philosophy led the federal government to enact policies that cut the immigrant quotas drastically like the Immigration Act of 1924. Chinese-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and African-Americans were among some of the most affected ethnic groups, but immigrants from all nationalities were discriminated against during this time .It became harder for non-native born Americans to find steady jobs; they were discriminated against when applying for loans or apartments. Essentially, they were second-class citizens. This time period marked an important shift in American history from a nation-of-immigrants mindset to a xenophobic one.

Life of a Seaman in the Early 1900s
The life of a fisherman is, by nature, one of uncertainty. If fish do not bite one day, the fisherman makes no money. This is always the case, but from the early 1900s into the Great Depression, the instability of a career in fishing became increasingly clear. After WWI, the fishing business became more competitive because many skilled men returned to America from the war and decided to continue their careers on the water as seamen or fishermen. This competition led to reduced wages and poorer living standards for the seamen. Shifts were longer and living quarters were smaller and far from well-kept. Once the Great Depression hit, workers’ wages were cut again and many non-essential workers were dismissed. Some workers decided to unionize in an attempt to get better working conditions and pay. Ultimately, the early 1900s marked a drastic decline in standard of living and wages for seamen in America.

The Middle Class, The Economy, and The Great Depression
Due to their status in the economic food chain, members of the middle class struggled to advance in society economically. The Great Depression influenced the entire American workforce, particularly the middle class. Whereas the elite had savings and assets to fall back on, the middle class ended up broke and out of work. Not only that, even during the scarce times of economic growth, the middle class rarely experienced any gains. The real beneficiary of any economic growth during this period was the upper class while the middle class remained stuck in the cycle of higher wages but also higher prices. Opportunity for economic advancement for the middle class was severely limited during the Great Depression.