Dedication: To Mrs. Faircloth,

    I wanted to dedicate this message to my teacher who showed me how my life would be in the Progressive Era. Not everything was how it seemed. I learned that immigrants were exploited for work, even though they weren’t American-born. I can just imagine young Italian children barely able to understand English being told to work on something they barely know how to do. As an Italian immigrant, I would have come to America with my family, but life wouldn’t be easy. I would have faced hardships and tribulations but I know I would have persevered through. I would be scared, confused, and alone, but I would keep pushing through so I could find my American identity. There were many problems in America during this time. Women’s rights and labor movements were especially important to fix. I would march, protest, and strike to gain more rights for myself and my fellow immigrants and women. Since the Progressive Era, many problems have been solved.  

    Although we still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to respecting women, America has learned to fix its problems and gain different perspectives. 

Women deserved the right to vote long before they were finally given it, but thanks to this Era millions of women now have rights. As to the labor movement, workers who at first worked long hours for low pay now can work fewer hours for more. Overall, the Progressive Era has brought a lot of change, but many problems remain the same. To fix America, we need to have the same energy as the men and women did in the Progressive Era. We need strong women willing to fight for what they believe in, we need strong innovators to fix problems and we need persistent and resilient citizens to continue what generations before them started. 

My life hasn’t been easy. 

My name is Samantha Radford and I'm a 16-year-old Italian Immigrant. 2 years ago I made my trek to America with my mom, dad, sister, and dog. We came from a ship with millions of other immigrants and were all hoping for the same things: a life, freedom, and new beginnings. 

Once I entered Ellis Island in New York, I walked off the ramp and breathed in the fresh air. America truly was different than Sicily, Italy and there were so many people. After I was taken to a man called the “Health Inspector” who checked my tongue for illnesses, I was approved to enter New York. 

 I had already found my home in a multi-family dwelling tenant which was overcrowded and unsanitary. My second task was to find a job. I had always been told that America was the "land of opportunities", but I would soon find out that this wasn’t completely true. I took a job as a seamstress at a garment factory. I was good at my job, but when it came to making “ends meet” that didn’t matter. The garment factory I worked in was called a "sweatshop". I worked with 20 other girls around my age and sewed for more than 100 hours a week to only make 3 cents per hour. As to the factory conditions, they weren’t much better. Places like these were poorly ventilated, dangerous, and unsanitary. There was nothing I could do. That was until I heard about movements and political parties.