The song Gold Rush Brides written by Natalie Merchant and Robert Buck expresses how the idea of prosperity and freedom informed the decision of many people to move out west during the Gold Rush, yet the stark reality was that women suffered immensely during this time. While white men enjoyed the freedom of living out west with few social constraints, the lives of women were constantly at risk due to the social demographics and harsh environment that comprised that part of the country. Acknowledging the painful lives many of the women endured shatters any preconceived notions of the excitement and wonderment normally associated with that period of history. The song gives a voice to a part of the Gold Rush story that is not often heard.
The song brings to light the difficult circumstances the women dealt with when the song states, My cousin Emily gave birth to a son in Utah forty miles north of the Great Salt Lake one morning. But the next morning she traveled on til noon when a stop was made and another child was born, this time Susan Mollmeyer. As the families traveled west with the hope that finding gold would give them the opportunity to own land and live a comfortable life, the women were giving birth in unsanitary conditions which constantly put their lives at risk. As Albert L. Hurtado mentioned in his article Sex, Gender, Culture, and a Great Event The California Gold Rush, women and their bodies were significantly at risk due to pregnancy, botched abortions, venereal diseases, and death. The pregnant women were traveling in harsh conditions which could have resulted in miscarriages or difficult childbirths that put their lives at risk. There was no time to rest and recover. The women and the newborn babies needed to keep moving until they reached their destination. The phrase in the song, pass the talking wire to where who knows, implies that many of the men and women really had no idea exactly where they were headed nor did they have any idea of what lay ahead for them once they reached the unknown destination. The parts of the song that state, who were the gold rush brides Do their works survive the yellow fever lives in the pages they wrote signifies that these womens stories are not often told. When the women died, their stories died along with them. In order to survive, many women had to rely on and support each other. The stories of who these women were, as well as the hardships and uncertainty they dealt with on a daily basis arent as publicized as the romanticized stories of newfound wealth and adventures of the men.
The dominant cultural view is that men were able to prosper, own land, and enjoy great freedom in the west since there was a lot of unsettled land and the social constraints were much more relaxed in the burgeoning territory. The fact that the white men who moved to the west greatly disrupted the lives of the Native Americans who already occupied the western territory is often not acknowledged. Portions of the song which touch upon this issue state, where a man could drift, in legendary myth, by roaming over spacesI see Indians that crawl through this mural that recalls our history. Native Americans suffered greatly due to the bigotry and hatred of the white settlers. Chief John Ross expressed the feelings of many Native Americans in his famous Our Hearts are Sickened letter which states, our property may be plundered before our eyes violence may be committed on our persons even our lives are taken away,we are denationalized we are disenfranchised. We have neither land nor home, nor resting place that can be called our own Native Americans were not considered part of America for all intents and purposes. The nation of progress, of individual freedom, and of universal enfranchisement that John O. Sullivan speaks of when referring to manifest destiny, was only applicable to white people, or rather, white men during that time. The Native Americans were essentially disenfranchised since they were not able exercise any political power to avoid being pushed off their land and on to reservations. Native Americans still have to deal with the collateral damage of the pillaging of their land, as well as the rape and murder of their people on a massive scale that occurred during the period of expansion of the United States of America.
The song Gold Rush Brides essentially counters the myths told from the singular perspective of the socio-economic prosperity of the white men during the Gold Rush era, and shines a light on the extreme pain experienced by the women and the Native Americans during that tumultuous time.
The song brings to light the difficult circumstances the women dealt with when the song states, My cousin Emily gave birth to a son in Utah forty miles north of the Great Salt Lake one morning. But the next morning she traveled on til noon when a stop was made and another child was born, this time Susan Mollmeyer. As the families traveled west with the hope that finding gold would give them the opportunity to own land and live a comfortable life, the women were giving birth in unsanitary conditions which constantly put their lives at risk. As Albert L. Hurtado mentioned in his article Sex, Gender, Culture, and a Great Event The California Gold Rush, women and their bodies were significantly at risk due to pregnancy, botched abortions, venereal diseases, and death. The pregnant women were traveling in harsh conditions which could have resulted in miscarriages or difficult childbirths that put their lives at risk. There was no time to rest and recover. The women and the newborn babies needed to keep moving until they reached their destination. The phrase in the song, pass the talking wire to where who knows, implies that many of the men and women really had no idea exactly where they were headed nor did they have any idea of what lay ahead for them once they reached the unknown destination. The parts of the song that state, who were the gold rush brides Do their works survive the yellow fever lives in the pages they wrote signifies that these womens stories are not often told. When the women died, their stories died along with them. In order to survive, many women had to rely on and support each other. The stories of who these women were, as well as the hardships and uncertainty they dealt with on a daily basis arent as publicized as the romanticized stories of newfound wealth and adventures of the men.
The dominant cultural view is that men were able to prosper, own land, and enjoy great freedom in the west since there was a lot of unsettled land and the social constraints were much more relaxed in the burgeoning territory. The fact that the white men who moved to the west greatly disrupted the lives of the Native Americans who already occupied the western territory is often not acknowledged. Portions of the song which touch upon this issue state, where a man could drift, in legendary myth, by roaming over spacesI see Indians that crawl through this mural that recalls our history. Native Americans suffered greatly due to the bigotry and hatred of the white settlers. Chief John Ross expressed the feelings of many Native Americans in his famous Our Hearts are Sickened letter which states, our property may be plundered before our eyes violence may be committed on our persons even our lives are taken away,we are denationalized we are disenfranchised. We have neither land nor home, nor resting place that can be called our own Native Americans were not considered part of America for all intents and purposes. The nation of progress, of individual freedom, and of universal enfranchisement that John O. Sullivan speaks of when referring to manifest destiny, was only applicable to white people, or rather, white men during that time. The Native Americans were essentially disenfranchised since they were not able exercise any political power to avoid being pushed off their land and on to reservations. Native Americans still have to deal with the collateral damage of the pillaging of their land, as well as the rape and murder of their people on a massive scale that occurred during the period of expansion of the United States of America.
The song Gold Rush Brides essentially counters the myths told from the singular perspective of the socio-economic prosperity of the white men during the Gold Rush era, and shines a light on the extreme pain experienced by the women and the Native Americans during that tumultuous time.
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