The idea here is to engage with the primary source provided, and to keep it at the center of your analysis.

For your first essay assignment, you will be analyzing an editorial published October 1897 in the American Federationist, the official magazine of the American Federation of Labor (AFL); the largest labor organization of the period. The work’s author, Edward O’Donnell was secretary of the Boston Central Labor Union, a large AFL affiliate during the turn-of-the twentieth century. Find the article here (if the link doesn’t work, please use the download option): O’Donnell Women as Bread Winners–the Error of the Age AFL 1897.pdf
Your essay should do the following:
Place the document within its larger historical context using the textbook and lecture notes as your guide. What themes and issues from the covered material are represented in the document? Be specific.
Identify what the document is, as well as its major points, purposes, and intended audience.
Using the document and covered material as your evidence, make at least two historical conclusions about women and organized labor during the Gilded Age.
Your essay must be a minimum of two complete double-spaced pages with 12-point, Times New Roman font. It should be written in a comprehensive format with an introduction, thesis statement, specific examples (this does not mean large quotes from the text), citations, and a conclusion. It should not include any outside sources other than lecture notes and textbook without prior approval.
***IMPORTANT INFORMATION***
The idea here is to engage with the primary source provided, and to keep it at the center of your analysis. Students sometimes want to write a grand narrative about the events and people involved. That is not a good strategy. You should show your reader specifically how the document connects to the larger history it is a part of.
I recognize this is most likely a brand new type of writing for you, and I take into consideration when I grade your work. I will give you lots of feedback, and if something is unclear, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I want you to be successful.
This document is a primary source. Treat it the same way you would any contemporary source you come across. We do not take news stories, personal accounts, or political speeches at face value. This document needs the same kind of investigation and evaluation.
The best essays are ones with a strong thesis statement that includes historical conclusions, and uses clear evidence and historical context from the document and covered material to prove them.
Finally, yes Mr. O’Donnell’s views are certainly crude, and completely intolerable in modern society, but remember, this was more than one hundred years ago. How do Mr. O’Donnell’s beliefs reflect the struggles that working women faced? How are his worries a product of his time? Provide context, put the document in the larger context represented in the covered material. It is a primary source, it should be analyzed as such.