Blood Relations explores immigration to the United States in the early 1900s. It discusses the effects of families of the migrants, the new communities that were formed, gender roles in society and the creation of Harlem as we know it to be today.

Many of the immigrant families that came to the US came for better job opportunities. Chapter 2 gives the example of common laborers, for whom “completion of the canal in 1914 meant eviction from Isthmus. Others left voluntarily to seek work opportunities elsewhere,” (17). This just shows the cycle of migration for bigger and better, which is a mentality that continues on today.

The first three chapters also discussed racial issues as well as gender roles in the society. In Panama, black employees were paid in Panamanian silver balboas and whites were paid in gold. Job opportunities and luxuries were often in favor of whites as well. Once in America, and in Panama as well, women were not given the same jobs as were offered to men. Men worked in docks, as porters, and did physical labor while women usually did domestic work for upper class white families or worked in sweatshops.

My favorite part of the reading was chapter 3. I was interested in learning the history of how Harlem came to be a predominantly black neighborhood. On page 41, the author states “By 1920, the two-decade long resistance of white Central Harlem homeowners associations crumbled under the weight of the black migration.” This was a powerful statement, in my opinion, because it showed such a drastic change in the neighborhood and captured the power and strength of the “On to Harlem” movement uptown. I also found the idea of the successful real estate firms to be interesting because back in the early 1900s they were able to make a great profit off the large movement to Harlem; where as for a long period in the later 1900s it slowed down and is only now starting up again.

Another part of chapter 3 that I really liked was the section that discussed young women in a powerful light. The White Rose Mission and Industrial Working Girls Home as well as the Danish West Indian Ladies Aid Society seem like valuable organization in a society where there was not a lot of help for young women trying to immigrate to North America. In a time where so many girls were lured into prostitution traps, people like Victoria Earle Matthews were able to prevent such disasters from happening.