America in the Forties: Immigrants and Aspiration

Me and Sybil, my mom, in 1942.

I was born on May 14, 1941, six months before the outbreak of World War II, which officially ended the Great Depression. My parents had had to wait years to get married, until they could afford to move out on their own, and then wait three more years to have a child, until they could afford me. They didn’t even let themselves conceive me until they were able to have a large enough apartment. And until…