Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Summer/105/Section 15/Josephine Petterson

Overview
Josephine Petterson was a Swedish woman who worked in dressmaking for several years and then taught at an institute for crippled children, before immigrating to America at 30. In Mobile, Alabama, Petterson first worked as a house servant before enrolling in night classes with the aim of landing an office job. The next couple of decades were spent at various local office positions until Petterson ended up reliant on the aid of Works Progress Administration projects. She was interviewed as a part of the Federal Writer’s Project on February 11, 1939.

Early life & Family
Josephine Petterson was born on September 17th, 1872, in a village called Skogsby off the southeast coast of Sweden where she lived with her parents, siblings and maternal grandparents. In addition to the family she grew up living with, Petterson had four uncles on her mother’s side who moved to Mobile, Alabama at various times. As the oldest of five, Petterson was tasked with completing her own education while helping at home and taking care of her sisters and brothers. Once she had completed public school and Confirmation school, Petterson wished to be a teacher but knowing that “at that time people who did not have plenty of money did not have a chance,” she went to live with an older, settled-down friend instead. Her stay was cut short as the work there was difficult and Petterson fell sick within months. She returned home to recover, and then worked in dressmaking until 1889.

Living in Stockholm, Sweden
When Petterson left home for Stockholm in 1889, she found work at an upscale dressmaking establishment in the city and remained there until the end of the century. Having dreamt of becoming a missionary, Petterson volunteered at the Young Women’s Christian Association and took a preparatory Bible School course in 1898. Upon being told that she was “not physically robust enough for the strenuous work of a missionary,” Petterson was advised to take a position at a charitable institute for crippled children until her health might improve. She had been teaching girls how to weave, sew and learn other handiwork at the children’s home for three years, when an aunt and uncle living in Mobile, Alabama asked her to come support them financially. Though reluctant to leave Stockholm and the children in her care, Petterson said goodbye to her family and left Sweden on September 17, 1902, as her mother had advised that it was her “duty” to go help family.

Journey to America
Petterson’s route to Mobile spanned several days, beginning with a train from Kalmar—the city nearest Skogsby—to Gothenburg. There she boarded a boat that would take her over the North Sea to Hull in England, from which a train to Liverpool brought Petterson to her boat bound for Philadelphia. Lastly, in America a final train took Petterson to the Louisville and Nashville station in Mobile in the afternoon of October 8, 1902.

Living in Mobile, Alabama
As soon as she arrived, Petterson’s aunt and uncle requested that she “get out and earn a living” as their own daughter had. Shortly thereafter, Petterson was employed as a servant at the house of Mrs. S. J. Lawler, though she had “never been a servant and was not physically strong, but... there was nothing else to do until I [Petterson] could master the language.” The time spent at the Lawler household proved worthwhile for Petterson as she was able to practice English by reading, listening to her employer and houseguests, and conversing with Mrs. Lawler’s daughter. The spring of 1903, however, Petterson’s uncle sold his home and returned to Sweden with his ailing wife. For the rest of that year and the next couple of years, Petterson remained a house girl for a few different homes, including the Lawler’s, the Rolston’s, and the Moraques’. Eager to learn stenography during this time, Petterson enrolled in night classes at the Mobile Business College. Her studies finally paid off when in the fall of 1905, Petterson began her first office job. After a period of working at the Mobile Dye Works office and Peerless Laundry, the owner of the Mobile Trunk Company—J. H. Wienand—offered Petterson a job. She accepted the offer and remained there for the next decade, until Wienand’s children were old enough to work at his business instead. Then, following a few years that were spent attempting to do various work for which she lacked experience, Petterson spent three years as a bookkeeper for the R. O. Harris Company and a decade at the People’s Ice Company.

Later life
Petterson left the People’s Ice Company when she married in 1929, but her husband passed away in early 1930, prompting her return to the company. She could only remain in the position for a year, before health issues forced her to leave and spend two years out of work. When Petterson was able to return to the workforce, she found her options limited by age and the state of the economy. She applied to the Works Progress Administration and “since then I [Petterson] have been on some WPA project and thankful to get my daily bread.” With aid from the WPA, Petterson managed to stay in work during the Depression, while filling her remaining time by singing at a church choir and reading to the sick and blind.

Prejudice against immigrants & Americanization
From 1850 to 1913, more than 30 million immigrants entered the U.S during what is now called the Age of Mass Migration. They often endured passages which required weeks or months on board sailing ships, where they would be repeatedly inspected for signs of sickness, only to be met with the option of hard labor as a result of the language barrier. For most, immigrating to America corresponded with a pay cut regardless of education, as a result of the devaluation of labor that an influx of workers caused. Their entrance to the workforce transformed the laboring class population and raised concerns for U.S.-born citizens about job competition. The collective attitude of growing suspicion for immigrants spurred the Americanization campaign. This movement was something the “native middle class did to immigrants, a coercive process by which elites pressed WASP values on immigrant workers, a form of social control.” Under the guise of promoting assimilation, employers, government agencies, and nationalist groups of this time attempted to redefine the value systems of immigrants to align with the conservative American one.

New Deal unemployment programs
The Great Depression began with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929. During this period of monetary deflation and bank failures, many in the U.S. were in debt, unemployed, or seeing acute wage decreases. President Roosevelt’s solution was the New Deal—a combination of emergency banking reform legislation, public works projects for the unemployed, and new federal agencies. The “alphabet agencies” of the New Deal—known by their abbreviations—served many purposes. Some were created to counteract pricing fluctuation in various industries, like the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) which stabilized farm prices, and others were made to create work for the unemployed, like the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) which provided jobs for youth while also improving the environment. Though the Great Depression was the most severe economic crisis in American history, work relief programs like the WPA (Works Progress Administration) were able to employ more than eight million people before they were discontinued, and other programs like Social Security, federal agricultural subsidies and unemployment insurance, we still rely on today.