Miami University

DARCY DONAHUE

SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR STUDENTS

Spanish and Women’s Studies

HON/WMS 101 Coming to America: Women Immigrants and U.S. Culture

This exercise and its connection to course goals: This exercise will help you to better understand the experiences, both positive and negative of women immigrants to the United States.

Learning Objective: To explore and relate to the lives of women from varied ethnicities and cultures who came to the United States from 1850 to 1920.

Writing Assignment: Using any of the readings we have done to date as your sources of information, write a brief first person account of the life of one of the following women after two years of life in the United States. Imagine that this woman is writing a brief summary of her experience in the form of a diary entry. That is, she is writing for herself.

• an Irish woman who emigrated to Boston in 1852.
• an Italian woman who emigrated to Buffalo in 1910.
• a Norwegian woman who emigrated to Minnesota in 1900.
• a woman from another group of your own choosing.

Process:

Your brief “autobiographical” sketch should include the following:

• Name and country/culture of origin (Other information might include civil status, age, religion, etc.)
• Reasons for emigration from homeland
• Brief summary of experiences. This should include:
• Destination in U.S. b) work experience c) at least one cultural difference between homeland and the U.S. d) a personal assessment of the immigration experience

For examples of case studies of immigrant women, see Caroline Manning, “The Immigrant Woman and Her Job: Agnes D., Mrs. E., Angelina, Minnie, …” and other relevant materials.

Grading Criteria: To receive maximum credit for this assignment you should:

• Include points 1, 2 and 3 under Process
• Use the informal style of a diary entry
• Create a realistic portrayal of this woman. You do not have to use dialect or foreign language, but your narrative should accurately reflect the experiences of a woman from this background.

Suggested Length: 2-3 pages, double-spaced

Due Date: Friday, September 24