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Ride, Ride , Ranke
Sigfrid Ohrt was ten years old when she emigrated to America together with her mother and siblings in 1901, after her father had gone ahead—fleeing debt, the police, and a forced auction. Sigrid starts school. “School was different. The language even more so. The teacher forbade Norwegian” (p. 43 in Remember the Women!). This resembles what the Sámi experienced…
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The Scream Over The Water
The moonlight cut into the room; three small shadows sat together on the floor. Children. Dirty cheeks, trembling hands, hair tangled into a chaos of knots. (p. 35 in Remember the Women!). The oldest child is Charlotte Sofie Nilsen. Her parents emigrate to America in 1882. Without Charlotte. She learns “how to become invisible”—like those…
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A Lady Companion in America
– “It was an adventurous life. Spring and fall in Chicago, winter in Florida, summer in Europe […]. After years of travel, luxury, and a daily life that seemed lifted straight from a novel, there came a day when Severine felt it in her body: now she had to go home.” The quote offers a glimpse into Severine’s life as a lady companion in America…