Doukenie Babayanie Bacos Research Paper

Lesson 12 Milestone Assignment Ellis Island Research and Story

Doukenie Babayanie Bacos born on December 18, 1904, a Greek but Turkish subject, immigrated from Thrace, now Kirk Klisse, Turkey, in December 22,1919 when she was fifteen years old on King Alexander from Piraeus, Greece and reached America on January 5, 1921.

In those days, Thrace had a mixed population of forty thousand people mostly Turks, Greeks, Jewish and Bulgarians. The Turks were not very progressive. The Greeks were orthodox Christians and very religious whereas, the Turks were Mohammedans. The Greek life was difficult as they lived in constant fear of the Turks, who would steal Greek girls and turn them into Turks. During the world war, the Turks would sell bread mixed

Bacos took this opportunity and wrote to her Uncle of her desire to study in America and to become a doctor. He sent her the ticket. She managed to find herself another family to travel with. After pleading to her father, he did agree to let her go on the condition had she would not tarnish the family reputation.

With enormous courage she started her voyage to Athens by train. As she was underage, her papers were not accepted but she managed to persuade the officer with her desires and dreams of America to sign her papers and then sailed on King Alexander. After 13 days, the boat reached America and the Statue of Liberty was an emblem of freedom. The passengers were taken to Ellis Island and she heard the older girls murmuring about the possibility of her being sent back as she was underage. She feared returning back and thought of jumping into the river and dying, in case she was turned back. At Ellis Island she witness tears of joy and pain. They waited and lived in agony. An Italian woman had arrived with 3 children. One of them was coughing and was diagnosed with Pneumonia. Some nurses came and informed her in English and took her child away. The woman was in tears, as

Unfortunately, her last child suffered from cerebral palsy and could not speak. She did not want to send her child to a special institution and so gave up her desire to study to take care of her son. One of her son and grandson became doctors and fulfilled her dreams. Bacos helped her husband run his business and a concession stand in a movie theatre while taking care of the family. Her daughter started a winery in