Why We Left

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Joanna Brooks explores her ancestors’ journey as early emigrants from England to North America, questioning why they endured such hardship in pursuit of a new life. This inquiry leads her to uncover a hidden aspect of American history, revealing the grim realities of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century working-class English emigration. Brooks challenges the notion that these immigrants sought opportunity in America, instead illustrating the dire circumstances that drove them away from their homeland. Through American folk ballads, she discovers narratives of economic displacement, environmental degradation, and social betrayal that shaped the early Anglo-American migrant experience. For example, the ballad “Edward” highlights deforestation's role in displacing peasant immigrants, while “Two Sisters” exposes the social upheaval caused by luxury goods in England. “The Golden Vanity” reflects how common people perceived their expendable status within England’s imperial ambitions, and “The House Carpenter’s Wife” sheds light on the effects of economic instability on women. From these poignant ballads, Brooks reveals the worldviews of America’s earliest immigrants, offering a haunting new perspective on their lives and struggles.