My aunt came through Ellis Island from Austria with her mother - her father was already here and had sent money for them to buy tickets on a ship. She saw her first black woman in the bathroom and watched her wash her hands in the sink and was shocked that the "black" did not wash off. Her mother and father had another baby here and then the mother died and the father had to give the baby boy to a married couple. My aunt found the boy about 20 years later. Very hard times then. I have a picture of my grandfather (my aunt's father also) as a young man and told my DH that he looked "very tough" and my DH said that they all had to be back then.