The special object I chose to share are some letters between my mother and family back home in El Salvador. These letters reminded her of family being a source of hope. These letters were my mother’s motivation to be in the U.S and drive to stay here. My mother’s journey began in the summer of '98 to better support my eldest siblings. The biggest push factor for her journey was lack of resources, & opportunities for growth to support her family. Her pull factor for coming to the U.S was the support of her 3 brothers who were already settled here in D.C., and sent a letter for her to come. She admits to me that it was hard to begin this journey, but she reflects that she powered through for her other pull factor, to experience the land of opportunity—the American Dream that my siblings could also experience soon. Now in the present day, I can say that she accomplished what she wanted and even more because all her children are U.S. citizens and in my case are taking advantage of higher education. This reminds me of how many other ethnic groups such as Mexicans whose pull factors for migrating were to look for employment opportunities and experience “America the land of opportunity”--which was the story of many latino/hispanic communities. Even with the migration of Black Americans from the South to up North, the reasons were for better educational opportunities and increased wages–a similar route to my mother from ES to up Northeast to D.C. 

– K.G.C

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant