Happy 4th of July

Today, we celebrate our nation's independence.  We also remember those who built this nation.  I have mixed feelings about the "American exceptionalism" narrative, mainly because it obscures historical facts and there are certainly parts of our history that are not as exceptional.  What I want people who read this blog to think about during your fireworks displays and backyard barbecues is that imperfection and continuity of change that makes Volga-German immigration history so fascinating.  

These men and women left Russia in 1875, after already having a history of migrating to the Volga a century earlier, to come to the United States in search of better farm land, religious freedom, avoiding service in the Russian army, and a chance to make a living.  They gave up their belongings in Russia and left behind family members for an experiment.  It was not predestined that living on Kansas plains would work, nor did they even have settlement picked out.  They could just have easily left after experiencing a few years of drought and economic hardships.  Building these settlements was slow and painstaking.  They also knew their lives would basically be the same as it was in Russia; they continued to be farmers.  It was that risk all these settlers took that I admire most.  U.S. immigration history rests on this principle and many groups did not succeed in living the "American dream."  For those that did make it through hardship, remembering their sacrifice is the very important today.