In U.S. Women’s History: Lives and Voices, the texts examine the three prevalent kinds of families in Colonial America: Native American families, slave families and English/European families. An early assignment in the course requires students to imagine (in writing) a wife-swap situation in which one woman temporarily changes places with a woman from another kind of family, using the articles in their texts as sources.
- In the first part of the essay, describe your daily life before the swap. Describe where you live, what kind of family you have, and how you relate to your husband, your children and your community. You may be a white colonial woman, a slave woman or a Native American woman.
- In the second part of your essay, describe the changes that took place during the swap. How are the women in your new culture treated by the men in their families? What new roles and expectations do you have? How is your daily life different from the one you were accustomed to?
In the third part of your essay, describe the learning you took back to your own family after the swap. What would you tell your family about your experience with the other culture? Would your experiences change your attitudes and behavior towards that culture in any way? Explain your answers.