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The Pangs of Family Separation
Digital History ID 8
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Annotation:
Family members were often left behind as husbands were in search of a better life for their families in America. A wife conveys to her husband the pain and loneliness of separation.
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Right after we were wed, Husband, you set out on a journey. How was I to tell you how I felt? Wandering around a foreign country, when will you ever come home?
I beg of you, after you depart, to come back soon, Our separation will be only a flash of time; I only wish that you would have good fortune, In three years you would be home again. Also, I beg of you that your heart won’t change, That you keep your heart and mind on taking care of your family; Each month or month and a half send a letter home, In two or three years my wish is to welcome you home.
Source: Quoted in Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore (Boston, 1989), 42
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