User:Kenazfl

Overview:
Tam Levine, born in 1892, was a Russian-born Jew, who lived most of his life in the United States, since age 12. He was interviewed by John Abner on February 10, 1939, for the Federal Writers’ Project.

Early Life:
Tam Levine was born in Russia in 1892, to a Jewish family; a father who worked as an interior decorator and a mother whose occupation remains unknown. Levine started school at 5 years old, learning to speak both Yiddish and Russian, and he stopped attending when he was 12. Levine started a job in a small village near his hometown tutoring Jewish kindergarteners, living with a Jewish family and going to night school. When Levine was 12 years old, the Russo-Japanese War started and he went back to his hometown. His father died of old age shortly after, and Levine left his family to go work with his uncle in the United States in 1906. His uncle was a butcher, but Levine did not want to live the butcher lifestyle, full of aggressivity and beer. The idea did not sit well with his uncle, but Levine got a job in a clothing factory in New York at 12 years old and was paid $6 a week to sew on buttons.

Working Life:
As Levine worked in the button factory, he came to recognize his love for clothing. One of Levine’s relatives came to visit and offered to take Levine with him to Bowman (false town name taken from Bowman, California) to teach him about tailoring. Levine’s uncle agreed, and Levine left with his relative. Levine enjoyed his new job where he was paid $12 a week. He lived with a Jewish family, paying $2 a week for boarding, and he started to save up his money. Levine lost all of his savings after sending it to Russia to bring his sister to America, and he later lost his job after his boss closed the tailor shop. Levine moved to a nearby town, Brooks (false town name is taken from Brooks, California) for a different job as a tailor.

Levine was offered a job back in Bowman, but he did not want to leave Brooks. Finally, a friend of Levine’s offered him a space above his store, where Levine could do altering and pressing for his friend. Levine accepted the offer and started to build up his own business, and his savings. He became self-employed, and worked in his little shop, making custom suits for men and uniforms for army officers.

Married and Adult Life:
Levine's life from around about 12 years old to 27 years old is not described with specific dates. It is assumed that he continued to work self-employed as a tailor until he reached the age of 27.

At around 27 years old, Levine fell in love with a young girl and married her in less than a month of knowing her. Levine spent his entire life savings to buy a house, and continued to work, living a luxurious life with his wife. Levine and his wife had four children; Doris, Barney, David, and Eugene. Levine’s in-laws eventually convinced Levine to move to Bowman, but when things went wrong with money and Levine’s father in law, Levine was forced to move himself, his wife, and his baby back to Brooks. Levine lived a long life of working to pay back the debt his wife put him and his family into and also paying for the extravagant lifestyle his wife wished to live, which consisted of carelessly spending his money and buying whatever made her happy, without the proper means to live this way. In his interview, Levine stated, “Actually, we were poor people, but we were living like rich people”. Levine’s wife eventually divorced him, because he could not support her life choices, and Levine ended up living alone, still working as a tailor, and paying his wife $15 a week. Levine saw his children around town, and he lived in peace, after accepting that he and his wife could not be happy together. The date and reason for Levin’s death remain unknown.

American Consumerism:
During the shift from the Progressive Era to the New Era (1900-1929), there was also a shift in consumer culture. Americans were starting to spend more and enjoy life with “goods and pleasures”. In the early 20th century, there was an emergence of dance clubs, music halls, movie palaces, and more locations for leisure. Goods and services were being more mass-produced and were sold at fast rates. Items such as canned foods, refrigerators, cigarettes, and soft drinks became a part of people’s every day buying needs. Not only were small items controlling the new wave of consumer culture, but cars, specifically Henry Ford’s cars were becoming so popular that almost everyone could afford a car, and almost everyone owned one. American consumerism did not stop during this Era. After World War Two, consumerism continued to rise, and since there were many available jobs with high wages, families had money to spend. Couples started spending a lot of their money and they also used their money on having a lot of children.

Henry Ford and Antisemitism in America
As consumer culture in the United States grew, so did antisemitism. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, there was a large movement of Eastern European Jews to the United States. More than 2 million Jews came to the United States, for freedom and jobs. Most immigrants from Eastern Europe came into the United States through Ellis Island, New York, the immigration hub where immigrants were processed. Jewish immigrants lived in poor conditions in large cities, like New York and Philadelphia. Jews lived in small, cramped spaces, and they mostly worked in factories. A lot of these immigrants were found to work in factories. It has been found in many opinions that Jewish people were often used as scapegoats.

A lot of pushes towards antisemitism were sponsored by Henry Ford. It has been found that Henry Ford was anti-Semitic, and he used his popularity to push his views. As Ford became more popular and started to sell more cars to Americans who were starting to buy into consumer culture, he began to “carry on an active anti-Semitic campaign”. He primarily used his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent for his campaign.

In his newspaper, Ford had a section published on the front page every week titled “The International Jew: The World’s Problem”. Ford continued his campaign against Jews for 5 years until he was sued for libel. He settled by paying cash to the prosecutors, and he released a formal apology.