Lecture 47 - Excerpt

Professor: Actually, Sandburg was born in Galesburg, Illinois. It was his parents, August and Clara who had emigrated from Sweden. Yes, he had been a hobo, we’ll discuss that later. (um) The family name was actually “Johnson” but when August went to work for the railroad, there was another person with the same name, so he changed it to Sandburg. He and Clara had seven children, instilling in them the importance of hard work and a good education; this was thought to be the only way to achieve the “American Dream.”