Blog #1

One of the most interesting topics of history for me has to be the story of immigration. It is amazing how the human mind and its determination can lead to discoveries of new land and the establishment of rules and society in order to thrive on this land. It is very intriguing to read about the origin of the New World and the sufferings that people went through in order to get to where we are today. What stood out to me most was the number of deaths that appeared. I felt like the early settlers were similar to lab rats. They were persuaded by propagandas to immigrate and to try to make a home. However, many things went wrong. For instance, people who resided in Jamestown, Virginia suffered from disease and as many as two-thirds of the 108 colonists died. Winters brought many hardships and led to starvation, resulting in the death of about eighty percent of the immigrants that were left. Surprisingly, this data is small compared to some of the more terrifying numbers of death that happened throughout history. It was upsetting to come across this topic, and what angered me most were the propagandas that were created to raise the hopes and dreams of the people whose only goal was to seek new opportunity for a better economy and life.

            Another thing that shocked me was the indentured servants. From my perspective, these people (aside from those who were forced) were crazy to risk their lives and agreed to work for someone they do not know just for a passage to America!  There were a few fortunate individuals who got land by the end of their terms and were actually able to make a decent living. However, many were mistreated and had to result to escaping. Many of the owners would put up ads in newspaper in search of these missing servants. It seemed very dehumanizing to me because these ads reminded me of the missing pets or objects that people put up in today’s society. 

            While I was reading about New England’s immigrants, what amused me was the list of what immigrants should bring with them on their journey. I imagined it to be like one of the instruction manuals or books that we can find in the library today that will probably be titled How to Immigrate for Dummies. But I have to agree that this method is quite helpful for first-time travelers or families who have no idea what to bring for them and their children. What I learned from this was that one trip to America was definitely expensive. I always thought that the poor would make up most of the passengers on these trips. The truth is that an individual had to be somewhat well-off in order or pay for his own passage and manage all the food and other items that were needed to immigrate.