Letter Home
Topic: For this Assignment, you will put yourself in the shoes of a newly arrived female immigrant who arrived in the United States between 1890 and 1920. You will write a descriptive letter home to loved ones regarding your experiences living in a tenement or apartment building in an urban area on the east or west coast (such as New York City or San Francisco) and working in a factory. You will determine the type of employment field in which you are working. For example: Are you working in a factory? Are working as a prostitute or domestic servant? Include specific details describing your employment experiences. For whichever type of employment you choose, describe your working conditions, pay scale, and hours. If you choose factory labor, also include the type of factory in which you are working. In terms of living conditions, describe the living conditions in the tenement or apartment building. Your letter must incorporate connections to the Unit 4 reading material to illustrate your experiences as a newly-arrived immigrant.
Content: In your letter home, identify the year of your letter (between 1890 and 1920), and your country of origin (i.e., Germany, Poland, China, Japan, etc.).
So, for example, if you – as “Mary” from Scotland – arrived in New York City on May 5, 1900, you will write a letter home to a loved one shortly after your arrival in the city. Similarly, if you – as “Saori” from Japan – arrived in San Francisco on October 20, 1906, you will write a letter home to a loved one shortly after your arrival in the city.

• Include your thoughts about arriving in the United States, and your initial thoughts about the city in which you arrive. Do you miss home? How does city life in the United States compare to life in your country of origin?
• Address your experiences living in a tenement or apartment building in the city to which you have emigrated (such as New York City or San Francisco). Describe the living conditions. Consider addressing topics such as the following: Do you have a roommate? Is the tenement or apartment overcrowded? Is there running water in your tenement or apartment? Is the tenement or apartment noisy?
• Address anti-immigrant sentiment between 1890 and 1920. Have you encountered resentment?
• Consider your work. Identify the type of employment; address the working conditions, supervisor treatment, work hours, pay, etc.
• Your description of your working and living experiences, as well as whether you have encountered anti-immigrant resent, should follow Standard English writing conventions, and establish a clear viewpoint regarding your perspectives on your living and working conditions and initial experiences in the United States.

Letter Format: Since this is a letter assignment, begin with a salutation and the letter date. So, for example, if Mary from Scotland is writing a letter to her mother on May 10, 1900, shortly after arriving in New York City, she may begin her letter with the salutation, “Dearest Mum”.
The body of the letter should include the items noted above in the content category, and you will want to close your letter with something such as “Sincerely, Mary,” or “Miss you, Mary,” or “Love Always, Mary”.
Word Count: The Assignment should be at least 500 words and should employ connections to the Unit 4 Reading material. You should follow the Unit 4 Assignment template ( The link to the left please click to see how it need to be done) in Course Documents.
APA formatting: Connections to the Unit 4 Reading material are required for this Assignment. Be sure to include APA parenthetical citations and references; formatting for citations and reference entries should follow the APA 6th edition style guide, which is available under Content / Academic Tools via the Academic Writer link. Your Assignment should follow APA formatting guidelines, including a title page, double-spaced formatting throughout the letter, parenthetical citations in the body of the letter, and a references page. In addition to the Unit 4 Reading material, you must also include one scholarly source retrieved from outside the classroom Reading material; include APA parenthetical citations and reference entries for this source, as well as any additional outside sources you opt to consult.