Upton Sinclair [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Upton Sinclair was a prominent socialist known for his muckraking books revealing the conditions of the poor in…
Lisa M. Wayman
Lisa M. Wayman
In my soon to be published book the main character, Irena, deals with life in the 1890’s. As I researched and wrote I realized that…
Here are immigrant women to provide a contrast to the women portrayed in the ‘Gibson Girl’ drawings. It is sobering to realize that ideal images…
In the 1890’s the traits for the ideal woman included piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. There was however a real double standard with poor women…
So women’s rights in the US were different by state. The western states granted voting earlier than national rights, with Colorado and Idaho getting votes…
Children in the late 1800s and early 1900s often worked, and also traveled alone. My great-grandmother from Ireland traveled as a 9 year old accompanied…
In my book I have a minor character returned to the old country for not passing the assessments of new immigrants (which by the way…
Turns out that maybe my great grandfather wasn’t an illegal alien. My mother says that a cousin found that he entered through Texas. She wonders…
Here is the Ellis Island record of my Great Grandmother, Marie Bertot Begus. She is record 19: 18 year old servant from ‘Sostany’ Slovenia which…
I found writing the novel ‘Longing for Home’ much more than a way to explore the experiences of my ancestors. The immigrant experience is one…