Engelsk stiløvelse

Amerika – det forjættede land
I årene 1820-1932 udvandrede mere end 300.000 danskere til Amerika. Der kunne være mange grunde til, at unge mennesker følte sig fristede til at forlade deres land. Men de måtte træffe en svær beslutning. De skulle sige farvel til deres familier, som de måske aldrig så igen, og de skulle være indstillede på en lang sørejse til New York og en usikker fremtid i et ukendt land, hvor de ikke kendte sproget. De fleste danskere slog sig ned som bønder på prærien i midtvesten. Fra 1862 tilbød den amerikanske stat gratis jord til alle, som ville opdyrke prærien, og 160 acres lød som en drøm for en fattig dansk dreng fra en lille gård i Jylland. Men de måtte arbejde meget hårdt i mange år, før de begyndte at se resultater af deres slid. Man kan undre sig over, at så mange overlevede og klarede sig godt.
Det må have været et meget ensomt liv, langt fra andre mennesker og byer. Mange breve hjem fortæller om skuffelser, sorger og hjemlængsel. Nogle danskere – især håndværkere – slog sig ned i de store byer, men de måtte også finde sig i barske vilkår, overbefolkede, usunde og mørke boliger i smalle gader, hvor varmen om sommeren var uudholdelig og kulden om vinteren var endnu værre.
I 1870 udvandrede den danske snedker, Jacob A. Riis til Amerika på grund af en ulykkelig kærlighedsaffære. Han har næppe været forberedt på mange års fattigdom med tilfældigt arbejde. Jacob Riis var stædig, og han blev politireporter i New York og en personlig ven af præsident Teddy Roosevelt. Han var den første journalist, som brugte fotografiet i sin utrættelige kamp mod slummen og fattigdommen i de store amerikanske byer.

America - the Promised Land.
In the years 1820-1932 more than 300,000 Danes immigrated to America. There could be many reasons why young people felt tempted to leave their country. But they had to make a tough decision. They had to say goodbye to their families which they perhaps never saw again and they had be prepared for a long voyage to New York and a uncertain future in a unknown country where they did not know the language. Most of the Danes settled down as farmers on the prairie in the Mid West. From 1862 the American State offered free soil to everybody who wanted to cultivate the prairie and 160 acres sounded like a dream for a poor Danish boy from a little farm I Jutland. But had to work hard for many years, before they started to see results of their hard work. One could be surprised that so many survived and do well.
It may have been a very lonely life, far away from other people, far away from friends and family and far away from doctors, schools and towns. Lots of letters that were sent home tells about disappointments, sorrows and homesickness. Some Danes – especially craftsmen – settled down in the big cities but they also had to submit to hardships, overpopulated, unhealthy and dark flats in small streets where the heat in the summer was unbearable and the cold in the winter was even more worse.
In 1870 the Danish cabinetmaker Jacob A. Riis immigrated to America because of an unfortunate love affair. He did not waited to find the streets covered with gold but has hardly been prepared for many years with poverty and accidental work. Jacob Riis was stubborn and he became a police reporter in New York and a personal friend with President Teddy Roosevelt. He was the first journalist who used the photography in his untiring battle against the slum and the poverty in the big American cities.

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