Letter Response
Letter Response
Respond to two peers. When you reply, also write in character.
Glenda Duran
Good morning Mrs. Roosevelt,
I hope this letter finds you well. I just wanted to send you this letter and express some things my family and many more black families are experiencing right now.
I recently moved to the North after spending my whole life in the South, my family had to leave our farm after the crash, since we were no longer able to afford to live on our land. It didn’t help that the first drought that came through made everything worse than it already was. The cost of farming and shipping produce cost more than to sell it so my parents decided to move us up North. We’re currently staying with my mother’s sister family. My aunt can’t afford her current living situation, although they offered public housing of course it was given to the white families instead. So that leaves me, my brother, and mom and dad in one room and my aunts’ family of five in another. White men and women have also taken the jobs that were usually for my people, leaving my parents and aunt and uncle to work in the least desirable jobs, but it’s all we have right now. My dad tried to get help from the AFL but they didn’t help much since these unions only cares about white workers You know what they say last hired and first fired.
The New Deal we were promised didn’t help us at all. Us blacks were promised equality and opportunities from Mr. Roosevelt, but it seems America has forgotten that we too are struggling, we too need to be fed, clothed, and educated. Hopefully you can do something about this. Mr. Roosevelt doesn’t seem to care about the segregation going on around here, he has yet to challenge any of the discrimination going on here and especially in the South since he became president. He’s termed us “The forgotten man” and well I guess that’s true for us right now.
I know it’s bad here in the North but my family back in the south are struggling even more, sometimes I feel guilty that we moved up here and my cousins couldn’t. They live in Mississippi and the government is refusing to aid them. I heard form mom and dad that a soup kitchen had refused to serve us black people, claiming we’re underserving of it. Goes to proves these white people don’t have one ounce of sympathy for us.
I did hear that there might be more funds coming to our community, talks about new buildings and schools. I’m super evicted since I love reading books and was excited to go into high school before this whole thing happened. Lately Miss. Smith our neighbor has been teaching us school subjects. She teaches me and my cousins everything she was able to learn when she was in high school. Hopefully when this is over, we’ll finally be able to have pretty schools like those white kids in the next town over.
I’m still optimistic about what our president will be able to do for us. Us black people are important contributors to America and should be thought about the same as white people.
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Miah Walker-
Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you, even if only through a letter. I believe that once you are down reading this, you will understand how badly we are suffering as a community. I am a stay-at-home mother. I have four children between the ages of 1 to 6. My husband is a soldier and is currently away from home. So, as you can imagine everything is on me. I am now being forced to find a job to support my family. My mother is willing to watch my children since I also can’t afford to send them to school just yet. But that’s just my story. There are so many other men and women who look just like me who are struggling even more. No one should have to choose between feeding their family and keeping the lights on. If our husbands, fathers, and brothers are sent to war, we should get some form of support to keep our families a boat until they get back. My younger sister is really struggling right now. Her husband was killed while he was away. She has triplet boys who are not even 1 yet. I try to get her money and hammy downs/ help her put as much as I can but it’s hard. There is only so much I can do for her. I hope that after you receive this message you hear or rather read out cries. We don’t know what else to do next. It doesn’t really feel like anyone of importance or with any status cares about us. But I believe that you do. I believe you can bring someone to hear us and help us. We are willing to work and make a life for ourselves. We would just like the chance to prove ourselves.
References
Race, Media, and Black Womanhood in the Early Twentieth Century
By Jane Rhodes April 24, 2017
https://www.aaihs.org/race-media-and-black-womanhood-in-the-early-twentieth-century/
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