Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — Come to the Vigo County Public Library from 12:10 to 1 p.m. Thursday for the Brown Bag Program “The Aristocracy of the Plains: An Immigrant Experience.” The program is a part of the Big Read events centered upon the book “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. A PowerPoint presentation will be made by Susan Jakaitis, manager of the VCPL LifeLong Learning Center and director of the VCPL ESL Program. The event is open to the public.
“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” (Willa Cather’s “O Pioneers!,” 1913)
One of these stories is the story of people immigrating to a new life. It is the story of hope, sacrifice, loss, danger, hardships and laborious work with sometimes only modest successes. One story, of the Czech people’s immigration to Nebraska, sets the stage for the book “My Antonia,” but is also a story in and of itself. They were a remarkable people with an immigration story that is wondrous and terrifying in its telling.
The Czech people were uniquely qualified to be the “Aristocracy of the Plains” coming with grit, skills, education and a love of the arts, which enabled them to mold adversity into realized dreams.
When they didn’t have a horse, they walked hundreds of miles to their destinations. They arrived at the endless prairie to the job of digging out a hole in the ground for their shelter. When they didn’t have tools, they dug the hole with their hands. When they didn’t have a community center, they kept intact their need for the arts and performed plays, musical performances outside or in the dugout or sod houses.
The perilous journey over the sea and across the United States couldn’t compare to the arduous task of living through the bizarre excesses of weather in Nebraska, the dearth of food and supplies, the terror of American Indian raids and the isolation made more difficult by a language barrier.
Join us for a view of this immigration experience as the backdrop to reading this year’s Big Read choice, “My Antonia.” The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.
