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E-book Migration Narratives : Diverging Stories in Schools, Churches, and Civic Institutions
Longstanding residents—members of formerly migrant groups whose families had been in Marshall for over a generation—often told stories that compared their own families’ migrant histories with Mexican migrants’. Many of these stories described similarities between the narrators’ migrant ancestors and contemporary Mexicans. In the passage above Father Kelly described similarities with his Irish migrant ancestors. Both Irish and Mexican migrants came for a better life, pushed out of their home countries by hardship and drawn by perceived opportunities in America. Both struggled at first, but many members of both groups made better lives for their children over time. In his work as the Spanish-speaking priest of the largest parish in town—the traditionally Irish Catholic church, which welcomed Mexicans starting with his arrival in 2002—Father Kelly had many opportunities to interact with Mexicans and appreciate similarities between his family and theirs. He consistently characterized the migrants as good, hardworking people who built better lives for their families and in the process revitalized his church and the town. Stories like his were one important resource that residents used to evaluate Mexican migrants in Marshall, and these narrative evaluations (Wortham, 2001) helped shape Mexicans’ pathways over time. Doreena’s parents came from the South in the “great migration” of African Americans to Northern cities and towns that took place across the first half of the twentieth century (Tolnay, 2003). Because their ancestors traveled from the South, we consider Blacks in Marshall to be another migrant group, although—as we discuss below—their ancestors’ enslavement makes their situation different in some important ways. Doreena was born in Marshall and lived there until 2014, and her daughter-in-law and granddaughter both continued to live there in 2016. She described how early African American migrants had to live with many people in a house, just as Mexicans were doing, because they could not afford more space. Over time, her parents and many other African Americans worked hard and were able to achieve better lives for their children. She expected that today’s Mexican migrants may do the same. However, Doreena also had an ambivalent relationship with Mexican newcomers. After living in Marshall her whole life, she had recently moved out of the East side of town—home to both African American and Italian migrants across much of the twentieth century—because the influx of Mexicans had changed the character of the neighborhood and she no longer felt welcome there.
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