A settlement house is defined as an institution in an inner-city area providing educational, recreational and other social services to the community. Hilda, Rose, and Rosa were three young women who decided to share their experiences with settlement houses in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Each woman describes her unique life experiences as an immigrant and describes the struggles they faced here in the United States. Although these three women cannot represent all of the women in the U.S. at this time, they do represent some of the struggles that many women did face. Working for low wages, being forced to marry violent men, constantly being afraid to walk out of their homes, and getting their houses taken away from …show more content…
She was raised in a foster home and was eventually forced to marry an abusive man. Rosa followed him to Missouri where her husband opened up a brothel. Rosa decided that she did not want to work for a brothel and started pocketing some of the money in order to escape with her baby. When she escape to Chicago she married Gionin, a man who helped Rosa with the escape. They were able to find a nice apartment to live in but were eventually asked to move out on account of a new building that was going to be made. It was hard for Rosa and her family to find a place to live because nobody wanted to rent to Italians. She had to settle for a basement next to a factory. It was a horrible place to live. In fact, any time the wind blew a certain direction, the hot cinders from the factory would land on the sidewalk where Rosas children would play, causing them to scold their feet. Rosa had enough of the house after it got flooded one stormy night. She went to the construction site of her old house and a woman came out concerned as to why Rosa was so upset. Rosa explained to her that this was her old house and where they are living now is no place to live. The lady found a place for Rosa and her family to stay that same day. She was also able to find Rosa a job at the settlement house. She learned how to speak English and became a great story teller. She even got invited to Northwestern University to share her stories. She loved America, and learned in America not to be