This image shows a boat full of immigrants awaiting their arival on American soil (courtesy of Schoener, AllonEd. 1967. The Lower East Side: Portal to American Life (1870-1925), 2nd Edition. New York: The Jewish Museum ). Reguardless of what "ghetto" specificly means to each one of us, the general consensus on the general meaning of the word seems to, more often than not, fall somewhere in the area of low income families whom utilize low income housing in a specific area of a city. Immigration represents just that: optomistic entrepreneurs from different countries coming to America with little money hoping to someday find themselves with big money. In fact, immigration had a major roll in the very existance of what we like to call "ghettos." The first "ghettos" were low cost, low quality tenements, populated mainly by immigrant families working low income jobs to afford clothes, food, and shelter. I use all of the former terms loosely, of course. Perhaps, one of the reasons minoritys are a staple for whatever you want to call a "ghetto", is that they have become so ingrained in the history of the "ghetto" that the lable has become a quite difficult one to strip from their heritage.

For my material artifact, I have a 20 shilling note from Kenya. I think it's a refreshing change from the way minoritys are portrayed. When you see the president (excuse me for not knowing who it is) gazing deeply and powerfuly at the outside world, in the same context as the presidents on our money, they're almost put on the same level. The Kenyan president sits with authority and presteige that generally isn't associated with the black community.