Chapter 2 - English Immigrants in America: Virginia, Maryland, and New England

I got really distracted reading this chapter. I ended up in a Facebook argument about social pressures on Asian women in America. I definitely won.

Virginia Dare, the first recorded child born of European settlers. If the Roanoke colony were to endure, I wonder if she would have ever realized what her birth symbolized. I like the mystery surrounding the Roanoke colony. The first time I remember hearing about it was through a TV show called Supernatural. In this episode, the protagonists try to save a city in modern day America from a deadly virus that ultimately turns humans into killing machines. "Roanoke" is craved into a post on the street corner. I suppose the writers wanted to theorize that the people of that colony vanished due to a mysterious disease.

If 2/3 of the original 108 colonists were dead within the first year its establishment, less than 40 people were inhabiting Jamestown. I couldn't imagine living in a town with 108 people, much less 40 since the other 78 are dead. Every beginning is rough, but the outcome thus far has been plentiful.

I didn't realize Britain was sending convicts to America. I always thought people were running away from Europe to escape political/religious prosecution or just for a better financial gain. Was Europe and/or Great Britain becoming too populated for housing their own convicts? According to the reading, there were more deaths than births during that time in London so maybe they had their hands full dealing with that. Plus the government didn't need to house them long term or even feed them. They just needed to send them on a boat 3,000 miles away. As I was reading that passage, I thought to myself, "I thought they sent them to Australia." Apparently, the author thought the same since the next line was about "Australia as the new dumping ground."

When I first heard the term as a child, I couldn't grasp the idea of what an indentured servant was. I think I understood these people were sort of like slaves but not at the same time. After reading a letter from an indentured servant in America to her parents in Europe, it made me realize the harsh reality of it all. Reading the letter, I felt Servant Sprigs was a bit a drama queen but I realized her life must have been so hard that she needed to exaggerate it through the letter so her parents received a clear, concise picture of what her life was like. She needed clothes, food, money; anything you could think of. She was begging her parents.

A travel time potentially between 8 to 26 weeks? No thank you. I have trouble with a 5 hour flight as is. First world problems.