As a woman living in the early american colonies, you have a very different life than the men who live in the colonies with you. And, depending on where you live, your life might be very different than other women's. You may spend your days sewing and socializing with other women, you may spend your days working in your home, or you may even spend your days hard at work in the fields of a large plantation or farm. If you are from the New England colonies, you may have seen other women accused of horrible things, like being witches. No one ever said that being a woman was easy.

What we want to know for your "Who's Who?" page is what your life is like!

Using the web pages provided, and the book you check out of the library, answer all of the questions at the bottom of this page. You need to answer all of them, and give as much detail as you can.   If you find interesting information that isn't in these questions, feel free to add it!

First, the websites you will use:

 General Websites about Colonial Life:

Topic	Website	What you can find here.
Colonial Life	Life In Colonial America	Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia; Article about life in Colonial America.
	The Founder of Rhode Island	An article about the founding of Rhode Island, one of the New England colonies.
	William Penn	An article about William Penn, who founded Pennsylvania in the Mid-Atlantic colonies.
	The founder of Jamestown	An article about the founding of Jamestown, one of the Southern colonies.
	Occupations and Customs in Colonial America	Information about Colonial America occupations and customs.
	Religion and Education in Colonial America	Information about Colonial America religion and education.
	People and Society in Colonial America	Information about the people and societies of Colonial America.
	The religious reasons	Some religious reasons for people settling in the colonies.
	Colonial Information Articles	A lot of articles on different topics dealing with Colonial America.
	America's Story	Colonial America information
	A hard journey	All about the passage to America for the first colonists.

 

Websites Specific to Women in the Colonies:

Topic	Website	What you can find here.
Women's Life in the Colonies	Life for Early Colonial Women	The life of early colonial women.
	A Captured Woman	A story about a colonial woman captured by Native Americans.
	Notable Colonial Women	Links to information about some famous colonial women.
	An Accused woman	A primary source document about a woman accused of adultery during colonial times.
	Scottish Immigration to the Colonies	Look at the entries for the woman.   Some good reasons why single women might have come to the American colonies.
	Women and work in Early America	A few tidbits about the roles of women and working.
	A Female Shop Owner	Information about the Milliner, one profession where a woman could be successful.
The Salem Witch Trials	The Salem Witch Trials	Library of Congress site about the Salem Witch Trials.
	Salem's Site	The city of Salem's site about the Salem Witch Trials
	A story about Elizabeth Knap	A story of a woman accused of witchcraft.

Answer these questions. Use the websites that are provided, and the book you check out during your assigned library time (along with any other books you may find).

1. What is your name? Are you married? Do you have children? If so, how many? If you are not married, do you live with your parents? Do you live alone? Or do you work and live as a tenant on someone else's land?

2. Where do you live? Do you live in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, or Southern colonies?

3. Why did your family settle in the colony that they did? What were their reasons for coming to the "New World?"

4. What is your lifestyle like? Are you very wealthy? are you comfortable? Or do you consider yourself to be poor or "struggling?"

5. How much land does your family or husband own? What type of crops do you grow on your land? Do you raise animals on your farm? What type of animals do you raise?

6. What happens to the crops that you grow? Do you grow them for food for yourself and your family to eat, or do you sell them? Do you do both?

7. As a woman, you may not be out in the fields working. If you are busy working inside your home, what are your jobs? What types of chores do you do? If you have children, do you send them to school, or do you teach them lessons yourself?

9. What is the climate like where you live? What type of house do you live in? Is it large, or small? What is it made of? What type of clothing do you wear? Do you buy your clothing or the fabric to make clothes, or do you make both the fabric and clothing at home?

10. What is the society like around you? Do you have a lot of friends or neighbors? Is everyone very "proper" and well dressed? Do you and your family attend any social events, like parties or balls?

11.   How are you treated by the other people in your society? Are you looked up to, and respected? Do people look down at you? Are you treated unfairly, badly, well, or normally by those in the colonies around you? Does this affect your life, and how?

12.   What are some things that you can't do as a woman, that men are able to do? Why is this? Do women in all of the colonies have the same limits, or just in the region that you live in?

13. For those women from the New England colonies:  tell us about the witch trials. Were you alive during them?   If you were too young, have you heard about them from your family members?   Do you know anyone who was accused of witchcraft?   What were some reasons why people were accused of witchcraft?

14. Finally, describe a typical day in YOUR life, from the time you wake up in the morning until you go to sleep at night.

(Add any more information that you may come across that you find interesting or important. Remember, it is your job to tell everything you can about this colonist for the Who's  Who book that you need to write. When you are finished, it should be about one typed page long.)

Your last step is to find a picture on the computer. This can be a clip art picture, a picture you find online, or one that you scan in to the computer, to add to your colonist's page. We will discuss in class how to add pictures to your paper on the computer, but if you need any help, be sure to ask!