The year is 1919; 21-year-old Ruby Livingston has just moved to Chicago from Mississippi with her three children and her husband. She is part of the "Great Migration," the exodus of southern blacks who left the south hoping to find a better life in northern cities like Chicago.
Ruby and her husband and three children are living in her mother's house with four other adults. Her husband is frequently out of work. Ruby decides to get a job to help make ends meet.
What should she do?- Work in a factory. This would involve a long trip from home?
- Work as a maid for a white family?
- Stay at home and create flowers out of fabric?
Ruby decides to stay at home and create artificial flowers so that she can care for her children.
Welcome to At Home in the Heartland Online, a World Wide Web site, where you and your students will meet real historical people and share in their decision making.
The story of Ruby Livingston is one of three Voices & Choices for the time period 1890 - 1920. You can also find out about Carmella Gustafferre, a fourteen year old girl who has moved to Chicago from Italy; or about William and Vera Dellert, a successful young couple living in Springfield, Illinois, who are about to purchase a house kit from the 1919 Sears, Roebuck catalog.
At any moment you are just a click away from- Timelines
- Maps
- Objects (from the museum collection illustrating what homes looked like over the centuries)
- Side by Side (cultural comparisons)
- Clues to the Past (an explanation of how historians use primary resources, such as photographs, estate inventories, and newspapers to build a picture of the past)
Inspired by the Illinois State Museum exhibit, At Home in the Heartland, the website explores 300 years of family life and objects from the home in Illinois. The website has been designed as a classroom resource for grades 3 - 12.
© Arachnerd.com 14-Jan-97