«A daring feat»: pioneering women directors of the Portuguese press in the United States - historical and socio-symbolic aspects

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to give greater visibility to the female immigrant journalists who pioneered Portuguese newspapers within the United States. It also contributes to the restoration of their collective memories, lending special attention to some socially significant moments of symbolic value, so as to understand their remarkable roles within the Portuguese-American press. Their stories reveal the efforts of these women who strove to make a career in the world of journalism, and their determination and dignity, despite their socio-cultural origins from immigrant communities with rural roots, mostly in the Azores Islands. The male-dominated society of both the Portuguese diaspora and the USA meant that the inherent discrimination of cultural and social stereotyping relegated female roles to positions of inferiority and submission. Expected to forego higher education, they were often pushed into low-skilled jobs, even while caring for children and working as housewives. Through a qualitative methodology, based on the scarce few available archival resources, the lives of women who worked as editors of the Portuguese press in the United States are set in an historical perspective. Finally, the most representative aspects are presented of two of the most singular and paradigmatic pioneers of Portuguese journalism in the United States, Laurinda C. Andrade and Mary Nunes Silveira, respectively, the editors of A Tribuna Portuguesa (New Jersey) and the Jornal Português (California), through a discussion of their biographies and their professional careers.