Migration

Migration is a well-known concept in America. Every generation has experienced some form of migration, whether your ancestors came over from another country or you yourself came from another country. Most people know this concept and it has been shown throughout history. If everyone knows the concept then why has every migration had some form of unjust for the people migrating?

How are people affected by these changes? Are they welcomed or are they turned away? In the early 1800s many were new to this beautiful land we call America.

This topic began to interest me a lot when we began a discussion in English about the current book "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, a very interesting book about the dust bowl during the 1930s. The book is set in the west and discusses what many families were going through at this time. Migration seemed to be the main topic and interested me a lot. When looking deeper into the book for more inspiration one character seemed to inspire me the most. Ma Joad who at the time started to change throughout the book. During this time many of the men were going through the loss of everything that they worked for and not being able to feed their families. We begin to see how the women take over and start to look out for their husbands. As I became interested, I thought what if other women throughout time periods also took over the role for their husbands?

Women in migration is a very compelling idea to think about. What were the roles of women during this time? Over centuries women have been viewed as the homemaker. But what happened when they had no home? How did women continue their role on the road? They didn't. Women started to get into a new role, a sort of partnership to their husbands, helping them to keep their family alive. It became more about how women contributed during this time.

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a book about women in the 1930s and how their role became more important to the survival of the family. In the book she discusses the life of women during this time and how they ended up being the center of the family, improvising to make sure the family survived. This trend even continued on throughout time into the great depression and etc. Even today during migration we are seeing more women migrate to become more independent. One of my favorite quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt is

"  A women is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water"

- Eleanor Roosevelt