Americanized Migration Case Study
“Americanized” Migrants With any move, people change because of the potential of a fresh start to be who they want to be. The migrants from the South became “Americanized” after the move due to the exposure of drugs, over crowdedness of the city sectors they were forced into, gangs, and prostitution. Ida Mae, George, and Robert were affected by the Northern ways in some aspect whether it was themselves or their children they had so desperately wanted to give a better life to. All three of them were forced to deal with whatever the North threw at them in terms of street temptations. Ida Mae faced gang violence right outside of her window every day. Her family had grown up to be good, hard working people, but the gang violence was so prominent
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They learned that they were not as free as the whites, but they did not know how hard it actually was for their parents and grand parents in the South. George’s family was troubled by a different type of problem. His son fell heavily into the drug world and even moved to Miami to become a drug dealer. Also, his son, Gerard (George’s son), had repeatedly said that New York was the reason for his drug problem and that it would have never happened if the family had stayed in the South (Wilkerson, 2010). George sacrificed all he had in order for his family to have opportunities they could have never dreamed about living in the South but his children resented him for it and moved back south. Robert also faced problems, but they were of his own doing. He developed a gambling problem and on any weekend he could gamble away thousands of dollars that others could not have ever dreamed of acquiring in their lifetime (Wilkerson, 2010). He was always out to prove to everyone that he was just as good as any white person and he could achieve even more if he wanted to. Robert also gave up his own private practice to work in a lesser stress setting in a hospital but even then he faced problems of discrimination by a white woman who said the examination was not up to her expectations (Wilkerson, 2010). He could have anything he wanted in California, but he was wasteful with his money and faced discrimination in a job he did not necessarily
They learned that they were not as free as the whites, but they did not know how hard it actually was for their parents and grand parents in the South. George’s family was troubled by a different type of problem. His son fell heavily into the drug world and even moved to Miami to become a drug dealer. Also, his son, Gerard (George’s son), had repeatedly said that New York was the reason for his drug problem and that it would have never happened if the family had stayed in the South (Wilkerson, 2010). George sacrificed all he had in order for his family to have opportunities they could have never dreamed about living in the South but his children resented him for it and moved back south. Robert also faced problems, but they were of his own doing. He developed a gambling problem and on any weekend he could gamble away thousands of dollars that others could not have ever dreamed of acquiring in their lifetime (Wilkerson, 2010). He was always out to prove to everyone that he was just as good as any white person and he could achieve even more if he wanted to. Robert also gave up his own private practice to work in a lesser stress setting in a hospital but even then he faced problems of discrimination by a white woman who said the examination was not up to her expectations (Wilkerson, 2010). He could have anything he wanted in California, but he was wasteful with his money and faced discrimination in a job he did not necessarily