Nov 17, 2019
Ellen Walsh reflects on a childhood filled with the joy and discoveries of living in Hawaii, Japan and Iran, along with the pain-filled memories of living in Mississippi in the mid-to late-1950s; a state where segregation was the "law of the land" and witnessing her mother's pain as a brown skinned Polynesian married to a white Portuguese engineer. Her mother was directed to the "colored door" while her father was directed to the front door. Her mother chose to stay home rather than bear the repeated humiliation only to encounter another form of humiliation as a "western woman" living in Iran during the 1960s when her husband became a civil engineer with an American firm. Ellen shares the impact from a society where women were marginalized by being denied the benefit of education, the inability to have their own independence through something as seemingly "small" as the right to drive a car, and living by cultural mores that said "a woman's place is in the house". It was another period of time where her mother became a recluse rather than live by the norms. But, it also fueled both her father and mother to ensure all four daughters would return stateside and go to college as a means of validating their value as women and ensuring their economic independence. She now believes that her motivation to earn her B.S., M.S. and complete her doctoral studies was highly influenced by these multi-cultural experiences. She believes that if all Americans traveled outside the U.S. they would find that people are more alike than they are different and that they want the same things for themselves and their children.
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