A Diary Entry of a Southern African American

Dear Diary,
I have decided to start writing in a diary so I can allow myself to get my thoughts out. No one will listen to what I have to say. The government could care less about how I am treated. I am a former slave. I thought that after I was freed my life would be dramatically different. I would finally live how I had dreamed. The way I thought was impossible. In some ways, it still is. I may not be enslaved anymore, but I am by no means free. I do not have the rights that I was promised. I am still finding it harder to survive.
My family and I have decided to move north. The North looks more promising for freedom than the South. I would just like for the government to follow through on what they promised. The government said that African Americans would have rights. There are little to no rights for African Americans in American society. There are little rights for individuals other than white males for that matter. The white men rule everything. African Americans have no say as to who is elected into office. We do not have the right to vote. The government makes all these promises to the country but does not have it apply to everyone.

I hope I can move my family to the North because I am scared every day that they will be tortured. There is a lot of violence in the South towards African Americans. Lynching has become very popular. The accusations for lynching are not fair either. Even a petty little rumor will get an African American hanged in the South. I am terrified every day that someone will start a rumor about one of my friends, family members, or even me. I do not know how I would be able to go on if I lost any one of the people I love. I have been separated from them for so long. People in our community have been killed left and right. I would love for my family and me to live someone where we do not have constant fear. I pray that the day where my sons can grow up differently than I did is not too far away.

Some members of my community have composed a newspaper called The Chicago Defender, which defends the rights of African Americans. Chicago is an amazing place. It is much different than where I grew up in the south. African Americans are treated more like regular people up north than in the south. There is still discrimination but it is not nearly as bad. I hope the newspaper will open the eyes of some people. African Americans are smart, strong, and intellectual people. My brother lives in Chicago. He was always the smartest of all us boys. He had heard about the freedom in the north and moved himself and his family there as soon as he could. He always writes me and tells me about everything that is going on up there.

There is a man that goes by the name of Marcus Garvey. Mr. Garvey thinks that all African Americans in the United States should move back to Africa. He is very upset that the Americans captured us from our homeland against our will and we deserve the right to go back and live the life we were supposed to have. I couldn’t disagree more. I love America. I do not like what is going on right now, but I love America. I want to enjoy the freedoms that America claims to have. America is a country where dreams can come true. I just wish that I could live in America with the rights that I know I deserve.

Many other people have radical ideas about what African Americans should be doing for their rights. A lot of African Americans are now embracing their heritage. For the longest time, the white man has made us ashamed of who we are and where we come from. My brother, the one from Chicago, told me about these folks who are calling themselves “The New Negros”. They are standing up for all of us. They are not ashamed of where they come from. They are also doing big things in entertainment. Some of them have been playing music their whole lives, they’re real talented. Would you believe that some white men are paying to see “some negros” play? I sure have a hard time believing it, but I know my brother doesn’t lie.

Many white men are getting mad at the fact that black people are not ashamed of who they are anymore. They still feel like they are superior and we should be punished for... Well, anything and everything. The new KKK has done some horrible things in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Rosewood. You would not believe the stories I hear people telling of the violence in those parts. White people will just make up reasons for black people to be punished. The strange thing is, everyone will believe it. I just don’t understand the way people think sometimes.

I will keep you updated with what goes on from time to time. I hope I will be able to write more positive things in here next entry.

Until then,
Franklin Cooper

Alonza Vasquez

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?


I am Alonzo Vasquez, an immigrant from Mexico. I came to America with my wife, two sons, and one daughter. I brought my family here in hopes for a better life. I had heard about the abundant opportunities here in America. I was seeking a steady job to provide for my family. I was also seeking for the ability to pursue my dreams without being persecuted. I, just like thousands of other immigrants, was hoping to live the "American Dream".

Life in America has not been how I had previously thought at all. My family and I now live in the lowest part of society. It is true that I have a job in a factory, but it is barely enough to feed myself and certainly not enough for anything else.

My family has changed so much. They have become really "Americanized". Our culture is to have a strong family bond. When we came to America, we lost that bond. Our family only cares about making money. Our culture puts value on the husband making the money and providing for the family. The mother's role is to take care of the house, cook, clean, and look after the children. The children's role is to be children and help out with chores. Now all our family cares about is money. Everybody works. The children who are not old enough to work have no supervision.

My family also does not speak our native language anymore. Many places do not allow peolpe to speak Spanish, we are all forced to learn and speak English. Our culture and background make us who we are. I am proud to be Mexican. I only came to America to provide for my Mexican family, not to become American. I have no idea what I am going to do if we can not go back to how we used to be. I feel like we are slowly but surely losing who we are in this new country.

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?

I am Esther Klein, a 17-year-old Jewish immigrant. I came to America in hopes for a better life; in hopes for living the American dream. My personal dream was to work in a textile mill and eventually make enough money to bring the rest of my family over to live in this wonderful country together. Everyone told me that America was filled with opportunities. There were talk of textile mills that provided hundreds of jobs to anyone willing to put in the time. It sounded to easy, but now that I am here I am seeing that things are a lot different than I had previously imagined.

As a woman in America, I have no rights. I can not vote. As a woman, no one listens to me no matter how good my ideas may be. I work long, painful hours in the mill for very little pay. We work excruciating hours for not much over a dollar a day. How am I ever going to be able to provide for my family with pay like that? I can barely feed my family from day to day. The factories are very unhealthy with all the fumes they produce. There are many people in my same situations. So many families live in tight quarters that are very uncomfortable and unhealthy as well. I just pray that I don't get hurt because I know no one would take care of me. It is useless to strike. My company has workers that will come take my place if I decided to take a stand against this unjustice.

As a Jewish immigrant, I get treated very poorly. Americans think that I do not deserve to be here and trying to provide for my family. How am I any different than they were when they came over from Europe in hopes for a fresh start and better life? There is nothing I can do to change my circumstances so I continue to push on and dream.