Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Summer/105/Section 06/Josephine Petterson

Overview
Josephine Petterson was a Swedish-American immigrant born in 1872. After working as a seamstress in Sweden for most of her adult life, Petterson immigrated to the United States to support her uncle and aunt. Living in Mobile, Alabama, she worked a variety of jobs until a rheumatism forced her to stop. On February 11, 1939, Petterson was interviewed by the Federal Writers’ Project.

Childhood
Josephine Petterson was born in 1872 in Skogsby, Sweden. Petterson was the oldest of five children born to Karin Petterson and August Petterson. By the age of five, Petterson was able to read fluently due to her parents teaching her. After her grandfather’s death in 1876, Petterson’s grandmother began to teach children who were unable to travel to school due to bad weather. At the age of seven, Petterson began to assist her grandmother in teaching children. However, Petterson had to stop her teachings because she was needed at home to take care of her younger siblings. After finishing public school and Confirmation school, Petterson decided to leave home and look for work. For a few months, Petterson stayed with a friend and performed odd jobs. However, the work was too hard for her, and she was taken home ill by her friend’s mother. After recovering, Petterson worked as a dressmaker from home.

Life in Stockholm, Sweden
However, she was not satisfied by the pay; therefore, in 1889, Petterson moved to Stockholm, Sweden. In Stockholm, Petterson found work as a dressmaker where she made “gowns for ladies of the court, and other prominent people.” As a member of the Young Women’s Christian Association, Petterson wanted to be a missionary, so she went to bible school in 1898. However, she was rejected for not being physically strong enough for work as a missionary. The bible school sent her to work at an institution for crippled children where she made clothes for the children and nurses.

Immigration to the United States
After three years of working at the institution for crippled children, Petterson received a letter from her uncle who was living in Mobile, Alabama. Due to the deaths of two of his children, and the third being away on government work, her uncle asked Petterson to “take the place of [his] daughter”. Seeing it as her duty to go, Petterson decided to immigrate to the United States. Petterson planned on staying a few years in the United States then returning to Sweden to marry her fiancé. However, her fiancé died. On September 17, 1902, Petterson left home for the United States. After arriving in Philadelphia by boat, Petterson took a train to Mobile, Alabama where she arrived at “five o’ clock on October 5, 1902”.

Early Life in Mobile, Alabama
After recovering from the journey, Petterson began to look for a job at the request of her uncle. Petterson found work as a domestic worker for Mrs. S. J. Lawler. With the help of the Lawler family, Petterson learned English. “In the Spring of 1903”, Petterson’s uncle returned to Sweden due to his wife’s failing health. Petterson decided to stay in the United States as she had “not seen enough of America”. Petterson continued to work for Mrs. Lawler and took classes at the Mobile Business College to learn stenography. In the winter of 1905, Petterson got an office job at the Mobile Dye Works while continuing to study.

Later Life
After her first office job, Petterson worked for ten years at the Mobile Trunk Company. She was then employed as a bookkeeper at the R.O. Harris Company for three years until she fell ill and was unable to work for months. In November 1920, Petterson was employed at the People’s Ice Company where she worked until 1929. In the same year, she married. Petterson’s husband died of cancer in February 1930. After his death, Petterson returned to work at the People’s Ice Company ; however, due to a rheumatism, Petterson had to quit her job as well as give up playing the piano and violin. After two years of unemployment, Petterson attempted to re-enter a business college but was turned away due to the Great Depression. In 1934, Petterson began working with the Works Projects Administration. In her free time, Peterson sang in the church choir, translated Scandinavian languages into English, and read to the sick and blind. Her date and cause of death is unknown.

Women Working in the Works Progress Administration
During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created by the United States government as a way to give jobs to the millions of unemployed people. Many of these jobs focused on the building of public works projects. However, most of these jobs were filled by men with women accounting for only twelve to eighteen percent of those employed by the WPA. During the early years of the Great Depression, women lost their jobs at a higher rate than men did. Furthermore, they faced hiring discrimination when applying for public employment. Both of these factors contributed to an increasing population of homelessness among women during the Great Depression. To help female unemployment and homelessness, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to increase the number of women employed in the WPA and create more suitable jobs for women. Therefore, WPA sewing rooms were created to employ women. The new addition proved successful as “[d]uring the week of April 2, 1938, [56%] of women employed on WPA jobs in the United States were engaged in sewing or other goods production”. However, these women continued to face workplace discrimination as they were often paid less than the men in the WPA. Additionally, programs such as the National Recovery Administration had wage codes that "set lower wages for women".

Swedish Immigrant Women Working in the United States
Between 1890 and 1910, “the U.S. Census recorded over 665,000” Swedish immigrants living in the United States. However, “one-fifth of the immigrants” returned to Sweden in a process called “return migration”. In 1910, 54% of Swedish immigrants resided in the Midwest, with Chicago being the city with “the second largest Swedish city in the world”. The majority of these immigrants were single young men and women seeking economic opportunity. Most often, these young immigrants would live in urban centers and find whatever work was available.

At the time, Swedish women were primarily employed as domestic servants. During the early 20th century, domestic work was seen as an unfavorable job, and most native-born domestic workers at the time expressed dissatisfaction with their work due to physically straining work, low social standing, and feelings of loneliness. . However, many Swedish domestic workers found satisfaction in their work unlike their native-born counterparts. This satisfaction came from being treated as “members of the families they worked for” as well as better working conditions, wages, benefits, and flexibility in their work. Additionally, the loneliness experienced by native-born domestic workers was not felt by the Swedish domestic workers. This was due the Swedish domestic workers maintaining attachments with family and the “Swedish ethnic enclaves” present in the urban centers.