Call To Home Essay, Research Paper

The families in the Call to Home by Carol Stack do not fit with the normal American

household described by Haviland. A normal American household includes the parents and the

children only. An aunt raising her nieces and nephews with her own children while their parents

are living up North is not considered a normal household. Parents and children are separated with

part of the children living with one parent and the others are living with grandparents. Such

separation occurs because it is harder and harder to find jobs in the South and many kids have no

other choice but to go up North for education and money. As North became more industrialized,

people like Eula Grant, Shantee Owens, Donald Hardy and many others packed their bags and

went looking for better lives.

The industrialization and the shift to urbanism did not really affect the kinship system of

southern rural families. It has become harder to keep and follow the system because of people

moving North but there are still extended families just like before. The children are still sending

their kids back home to the grandparents, there are still aunts and uncles living together with

their families. If children move up North, they sometimes live with the relatives that have

already established themselves, so they still stay in the homelike environment. Of course, there

are people like Billie and Hank who try to survive on their own, but they still send their girls

home, which is a continuation of the kinship system.

The series of migration along with its consequences could not have occurred anywhere

else but in the rural South. It was the place with a totally different economic system then the rest

of the United Stated. When East Coast and West Coast started industrializing, the South did not

but kept on relying on cotton and slaves to produce it. However, when slavery was abolished,

Southern economy, which relied on the slaves, fell, causing major poverty. Ex-slaves started

sharecropping, but it was not enough to keep the families going. Cases when people saved up

money to buy their own land were rare and in most cases they could not keep it for long because

of the debts. Samuel Bishop got lucky because he was able to buy the land and keep it for so

long, but after his death there was nothing for the family to do but to go into the debt.

This poverty was the major cause of migration because there were no opportunities for

the youth in the South. Everyone knew that all the opportunities were up North where the big

industries are and the abundance of jobs to be filled. However, with all the opportunities came

the consequences of living in big cities. Crime, violence, no one to turn for support to because all

the relatives live back home or in different cities. All that drove many back home, but they were

different people. They knew what had to be done to better their lives down South. They had the

skills, the knowledge and the strength to change things. MAC, Inc. and Holding Hands were

organized to help out the poor, which included almost everybody. These are the consequences of

living up North ? people came back knowing what has to be done.

Even though the younger generation that came back knew what had to be done, they still

seek the support of their elders. The kinship system played tremendously important role in all

those people?s lives. All the family gatherings were always attended no matter how far

everybody is. Being a family is what has always gotten them through hard times. When the

children moved back and had to start all over, their family was always there for them. Pearl had

taken in Eula?s children and her while she was recovering after the operation. Samuel?s niece and

nephew came to live with them when they lost their parents. If not for Pearl raising them, they

would have ended up in an orphanage and nobody knows what could have happened to them.

People survived through moral and financial support from their families. It was considered

ungrateful to put your parents into an old folks home. Better to care for them yourself because

they cared for you when you needed it. Clyde was faced with a tough problem because he was

the only one available to care for his mother and it is very weird for a guy to bathe his mother.

The response of many people to his problem indicates that for many family is important because

they all suggested that something needs to be worked out and somebody has to take care of her

instead of putting her in the nursing home. The kinship system commands those people?s lives. It

defines their values and morals.

Vietnam War has touched many aspects of American lives and the South was not an

exception. The generation that moved up North during the Vietnam War went to fight in it.

People who survived and moved back South were totally different from the people who never

fought or never even moved up North. The veterans were broken people, not ready to deal with

the world around them. It was harder for them to get a job because they could not deal with

the people there. For those who were married, the wife became the breadwinner because she

could keep her job for a longer period of time. The woman became the boss in the house because

the husband not only was unable to deal with the outside world but with the private one as well.

The veterans understood many things that they did not know before and that knowledge

became a hindrance to their survival. They understood that they fought for different values than

the ones they were taught in school. What they could not see is why everybody else does not

understand it. The veterans were upset that there is nothing they could do about it and they did

not know how to deal with it. Employers did not want to deal with all those problems and would

rather hire somebody else than a war veteran. People would not understand everything that they

went through and would offer them no support. Some of them received medical disability

payments.

The veterans who did not have jobs were considered to be worthless by the white

community. However, in the black community they were looked upon with respect for being

able to stand up to the government. People went to them to ask a question, solve a problem or

resolve a conflict. They were actively involved in the social life by helping the people. The

veterans became sort of a community leaders, organizing and managing campaigns and

fighting for the cause of the black people. They held a high status in the community, which put

them at the top of the social hierarchy.

Bibliography

carol stack – a call to home