Using the links I gave you last week, your text, and your VoF readings, take on the perspective of the personage you chose. You will need to produce a (750 word minimum) letter or diary entry, suitable for publication on your blog. While creativity is encouraged, your writing must be factual and show evidence that you’ve done your readings. You should reference any major events or legislation that would affect your character directly.
This assignment is worth 20 points. It is due Friday, 27 February at 10 p.m.
April 28, 1917
Dear Chicago Defender,
As a new reader, I am greatly surprised that such a paper as yours exists and I would like to thank you in advance for the great information you disperse to all of those seeking it. Your paper has given us down here in the south a reason to hope for a better future that can help us thinking positively of what we could do with our lives. We are currently living in poverty and can barely support ourselves in a meager living. We stay in this close net community and help support each other but are all looking for a better life in any community that might offer it.
That is the reason I am writing to you. My wife, two children, and I are lucky enough to have a roof but have a difficult time finding finances for food like the rest of our neighbors. We can not continue to live this way; we simply will not be able to survive. There is little more for me to do then back breaking work and to be given near nothing sustainable for it. Luckily this close knit community comes together in times of hardships and we all help support each other; however, there are times where we are short of food. In addition we are treated badly by the others in this town who have no respect for us. Some of the whites threaten us and attack us, but we have nothing down here to protect us and it is usually unprovoked. Their behavior towards us is in no way comparable or worthy of the respect we are forced to give in fear of retaliation.
Surely these laws protecting men and preaching equality that were made in the north are enforced in the north since they are not in the south. We have not been able to vote, which has been promised by the constitution, in fear of all sorts of retaliation. This democracy we are fighting for across the waters should be fought here at home. We have been promised rights and supposedly given the opportunities but none of us have seen it or benefited from it. It is because of this that we can not even have elected officials that care about us. Nobody will speak on our behalf in fear of being ousted as an elected official. How is it that not even the government that has made such grand promises can not even fight for us, but can fight for strangers who they have promised nothing? How is it that we are asked to serve our country in this war but once again nothing in return? We continue living this horrible life in the south.
In addition to these rights, I believe both my children have the right to be able to learn in a school that is worthy of teaching. They should not go to a small building that is on the verge of collapsing with nothing but a few tables filling it while the others have their great facilities that are supposedly separate and equal are surely separate, but are in no means equal. I refuse to allow this future to be the only option for my family. I will not allow my children to follow in my footsteps, that is all I am looking for, an opportunity to better the life of my family.
I have seen your ads and promises of a better life in the North; however, we have little money and could make the travel if we sold everything. We would have nothing left but the clothes on our backs. I ask you, in these times of desolation, do we have a chance at creating a better living for ourselves up in Chicago or a surrounding city? I have read of many job opportunities that promise higher wages than anybody has seen down here, but I can not believe my own eyes. If such a place is true, why would any of us stay here living in poverty? Is there any chance of us being able to venture to this new home and possibly start afresh and support ourselves?
Chicago Defender, please respond to my letter. I ask for a response so I may know if I should pack up my family, sell our belongings and embark on a journey to better our lives. Is this possible through your means? Will we be able to live truly self-sustainable lives? Will we be given the liberties promised to us as Americans? Is there anybody up there that is willing to help those of us down in the south that are in need of help?
I’m patiently awaiting a reply in hope of a better future.
Thank you,
William
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
From Mexican To American
It’s 1920 and you, Alonzo Vasquez, are a Mexican immigrant to the United States. While you love your new country, it is very important to you that your family remember and honor your culture and traditions, many of which are tied to your homeland. You are increasingly worried that your children, in the process of becoming “American,” are ignoring the importance of their heritage. Why is it so important to you that your family retain some cultural connection to Mexico and your Mexican heritage? What evidence is there that your children are being wholly “Americanized?” What conflicts has this created between you and your children?
*This assignment, while allowing for creativity, MUST draw from your VoF readings for the week and Becoming Mexican American.
It is now 1920 and I, Alonzo Vasquez, am a newly immigrated Mexican to America. We came in hope of opportunity and to live a better life then we had in Mexico, unfortunately I fear that if we stay here longer we will destroy our family. I am quite upset with the customs of America and their inability to allow us to keep our own traditions and culture. I have a problem with the way they are changing my family and forcing their ideology onto our community. We should not have to live our lives to their specific customs.
My four children, two daughters and two sons, are quickly evolving into Americans while my wife and I are attempting to force them to remember their roots. Here in America the children go off and work at young ages and are forced to grow up quick. They do not have a chance to be children; they start providing and at a young age are somehow expected to be literate in the American ways. I do not understand how the Americans think they can take away our children and break our families apart. It is as if we are losing our children. They take them away to teach them American customs and brainwash them that we have taught them wrong and not done our best to provide for them. That we, their parents, are wrong.
As if it wasn’t worse, many of the children in this community we live in have left their families at young ages to be married off to white American men or women. These children have forgotten their heritage and are quickly becoming Americanized. Many of our neighbors in this Mexican community tell stories of their children that have grown and moved far away from home. They leave their family and create new lives floating around the United States while we, their parents, stay at home worrying if they are ok and pondering if we will ever be able to see them again. I fear that one day this turmoil will ruin the Mexican families and we will not even exist, we will become extinct. We are a dying bread.
I fail to understand why my family is so attracted to this country. I beg them to return home, yet they claim to have opportunity and feel safer here in America, while in the past years I have done nothing but my best to protect them in Mexico. I feel betrayed. Is it that my children do no longer trust me? As if that was not bad enough, they decide they would rather be out in the town and meeting new people rather than spending the little precious time we have together as a family. It upsets me that I work all day for meager wages to barely put food on the table and my family does not only take everything for granted but wants to forget their past. I want my family to be my family, I will not stand to watch American and it’s customs take my children away from me. To take my children away from the Mexican way of life. It shall not corrupt them anymore.
*This assignment, while allowing for creativity, MUST draw from your VoF readings for the week and Becoming Mexican American.
It is now 1920 and I, Alonzo Vasquez, am a newly immigrated Mexican to America. We came in hope of opportunity and to live a better life then we had in Mexico, unfortunately I fear that if we stay here longer we will destroy our family. I am quite upset with the customs of America and their inability to allow us to keep our own traditions and culture. I have a problem with the way they are changing my family and forcing their ideology onto our community. We should not have to live our lives to their specific customs.
My four children, two daughters and two sons, are quickly evolving into Americans while my wife and I are attempting to force them to remember their roots. Here in America the children go off and work at young ages and are forced to grow up quick. They do not have a chance to be children; they start providing and at a young age are somehow expected to be literate in the American ways. I do not understand how the Americans think they can take away our children and break our families apart. It is as if we are losing our children. They take them away to teach them American customs and brainwash them that we have taught them wrong and not done our best to provide for them. That we, their parents, are wrong.
As if it wasn’t worse, many of the children in this community we live in have left their families at young ages to be married off to white American men or women. These children have forgotten their heritage and are quickly becoming Americanized. Many of our neighbors in this Mexican community tell stories of their children that have grown and moved far away from home. They leave their family and create new lives floating around the United States while we, their parents, stay at home worrying if they are ok and pondering if we will ever be able to see them again. I fear that one day this turmoil will ruin the Mexican families and we will not even exist, we will become extinct. We are a dying bread.
I fail to understand why my family is so attracted to this country. I beg them to return home, yet they claim to have opportunity and feel safer here in America, while in the past years I have done nothing but my best to protect them in Mexico. I feel betrayed. Is it that my children do no longer trust me? As if that was not bad enough, they decide they would rather be out in the town and meeting new people rather than spending the little precious time we have together as a family. It upsets me that I work all day for meager wages to barely put food on the table and my family does not only take everything for granted but wants to forget their past. I want my family to be my family, I will not stand to watch American and it’s customs take my children away from me. To take my children away from the Mexican way of life. It shall not corrupt them anymore.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Reaction #2 - Esther Klein
It’s 1892 and you, Esther Klein, are a 17-year-old textile mill worker in the American northeast. You are new to the country and to industrial work, having worked previously on your parents’ farm in the old country. As much as you longed to come to America, your life as a poor Jewish industrial worker in the United States makes you have second thoughts. And life at the mill—why you and some of the other girls dream of organizing and standing up to the mill owners, but what you’ve seen of other labor organizing worries you! So tell me, Esther, what are the sources of your dissatisfaction as a poor woman, a worker, and a Jewish immigrant? Why have your dreams, of what life in America would be, changed?
As a young immigrant textile mill worker I am learning the American Dream is not what I thought it would be like when I was back home. We were told of a great country with opportunity for everyone. A country where we could live together and make a name for ourselves in a great utopia. Unfortunately those stories have not come true. I thought I would be glad to leave the old country and the farm, but those long days out on the farm seem like nothing compared to these horrible conditions in these cramped and stuffy buildings.
The girls at the factory agree that there is no reason to force us to work in such horrible conditions and we have thought about fighting for our rights, but we fear that we will merely be thrown out and replaced by others that won’t argue the working conditions or low wages. We are working in dangerous conditions and any complaints we make are ignored and there is nobody we can go to. We work endlessly and tirelessly, toiling over their textiles and getting paid pennies while the owners and managers benefit from our hard work and live luxurious lives.
We are forced to work because our families would not be able to survive without our extra income even as small as it is. Our little brothers and sisters have small jobs like us and are treated horribly and taken advantage of even more then I and the others. We work long hours, are given little to eat, and get in trouble for anything we do wrong.
The government will not even come to aid us in our complaints. I feel as if the companies have paid off the government and bought off our rights. The liberties we were promised and the utopia we imagined has not come true. We work hard to give our family a fighting chance in America but the sad truth is many of us fail in our endeavors. We come to America to fulfill the American dream but instead are used by others to better their own lives. Our dream has been transformed into a fight for our survival. Instead of bettering our lives from the old country, we come here and are fighting for the bare minimum necessities.
As a young immigrant textile mill worker I am learning the American Dream is not what I thought it would be like when I was back home. We were told of a great country with opportunity for everyone. A country where we could live together and make a name for ourselves in a great utopia. Unfortunately those stories have not come true. I thought I would be glad to leave the old country and the farm, but those long days out on the farm seem like nothing compared to these horrible conditions in these cramped and stuffy buildings.
The girls at the factory agree that there is no reason to force us to work in such horrible conditions and we have thought about fighting for our rights, but we fear that we will merely be thrown out and replaced by others that won’t argue the working conditions or low wages. We are working in dangerous conditions and any complaints we make are ignored and there is nobody we can go to. We work endlessly and tirelessly, toiling over their textiles and getting paid pennies while the owners and managers benefit from our hard work and live luxurious lives.
We are forced to work because our families would not be able to survive without our extra income even as small as it is. Our little brothers and sisters have small jobs like us and are treated horribly and taken advantage of even more then I and the others. We work long hours, are given little to eat, and get in trouble for anything we do wrong.
The government will not even come to aid us in our complaints. I feel as if the companies have paid off the government and bought off our rights. The liberties we were promised and the utopia we imagined has not come true. We work hard to give our family a fighting chance in America but the sad truth is many of us fail in our endeavors. We come to America to fulfill the American dream but instead are used by others to better their own lives. Our dream has been transformed into a fight for our survival. Instead of bettering our lives from the old country, we come here and are fighting for the bare minimum necessities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)