{"id":4252,"date":"2016-06-07T08:04:50","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T13:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lizzieborden.org\/WomenatWork\/?page_id=4252"},"modified":"2017-01-31T11:55:10","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T16:55:10","slug":"delores-almeida-edited-transcript","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/delores-almeida-edited-transcript\/","title":{"rendered":"Delores (Silvia) Almeida Edited Transcript"},"content":{"rendered":"

FALL RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Women at Work: An Oral History of
\nWorking-Class Women
\nin Fall River, Massachusetts
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span>1920-1970<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interview with Mrs. James Francis Almeida, Jr., n\u00e9e Delores Silvia<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewer: (JR<\/strong>) Joyce Rodrigues<\/span><\/p>\n

Interviewee: (DA<\/strong>) Delores (Silvia) Almeida<\/span><\/p>\n

Date of Interview: June 10, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

Location: Somerset Ridge Center, Somerset, Massachusetts<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Summary:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Delores (Silvia) Almeida was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, on October 18, 1937. She came of age at the height of her native city\u2019s garment manufacturing period. She graduated in 1953 from eighth grade at the Susan B. Wixon Elementary School, and like her sister and brothers before her, immediately went to work to contribute to the household.<\/span><\/p>\n

Work Experience<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Fall River factory work was plentiful and jobs were readily available in the 1950s and 1960s. As an example, there were 101 factories listed in the 1951 edition of the Directory of Massachusetts Manufacturers\u2019<\/em>, which lists companies employing fifty or more production workers. These jobs were diverse and included the manufacturing of curtains, ladies dresses, men\u2019s shirts, children\u2019s wear, luggage, loose-leaf binders, and lighting fixtures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delores\u2019 career took her to:<\/span><\/p>\n

– Pleasant Curtain Company, 237 Pleasant Street<\/span>
\n – Atlas Manufacturing (curtain) Company, 288 Plymouth Avenue<\/span>
\n – K & G Manufacturing Company, Inc. (ladies dresses),\u00a0<\/span>187 Pleasant Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, American factory and garment workers were facing growing overseas competition. Commenting on this period, Delores notes the impact of this development on the local economy:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 There [were] so many factories in Fall River\u2026They are all gone. All [the] shops are gone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the textile decline in the 1920s, Fall River in the last quarter\u00a0of the twentieth century would once again face economic instability and the prospect of an uncertain future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Family Life<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Delores is a second-generation Portuguese-American. Her grandparents immigrated to the United States from the island of St. Michael in the Azores; her father and mother were born in the United States in 1896 and 1909 respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delores was brought up on a farm. Her father worked as a farm manager for a family in Swansea, Massachusetts, and for the George Magan family in Tiverton, Rhode Island. She was brought up \u201cold-fashioned.\u201d Her father\u2019s job on the Magan farm came with a rent-free house and fresh milk every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The family eventually moved to Fall River. \u201cMy father always worked on the farm, and then, when the farms started fading away, he went to work at the Truesdale Hospital [1820 Highland Avenue] helping out in the kitchen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Delores started working at the age of sixteen, and retired at age sixty-two with a pension from Social Security and with no pension from the ILGWU-UNITE union because she did not have enough years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delores met and married James Francis Almeida, Jr., \u201c\u2026 the boy across the street\u201d; Their wedding was at the Santo Christo Church (Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres) on Columbia Street, on May 30, 1956. The couple had three children.<\/span><\/p>\n

After retirement, Delores took care of her grandchildren and today is active as the president of a senior residents\u2019 council.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: This interview has been slightly edited for continuity and readability; in order to preserve the integrity of the conversation, the phraseology remains that of the interviewer and interviewee. Italicized information in square brackets has been added for the purposes of clarification and context.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> This is June 10, 2015. We\u2019re at Somerset Ridge and this is Delores Almeida who we are interviewing today, and the interviewer is Joyce Rodrigues. So we are going to get started. Let\u2019s get started.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Okay, Delores, I heard a lot about you\u2026. Tell me about your family; tell me about your parents and grandparents.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My \u2026 grandparents were born in the Old Country in [Sa\u00f5 Miguel, Azores<\/em>] Portugal. [The interviewee\u2019s paternal grandparents, Jos\u00e9 \u201cJoseph\u201d Peter Silvia, and his wife, n\u00e9e Rita de Jesus immigrated from Capelas, S\u00e3o Miguel, Azores; her maternal grandparents, Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado and his wife, n\u00e9e Margarida \u2018Margaret\u2019 Soares, immigrated from Relva, a civic parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, S\u00e3o Miguel, Azores<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> You mean the Azores?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> The Azores \u2013 and my mother [n\u00e9e Virginia Rapoza Salgado<\/em>] and father [Seraphine Peter Silvia<\/em>] were born here in the United States. [The interviewee\u2019s mother was born in Fall River 1909; her father, was born in Somerset, Massachusetts, in 1896<\/em>]. And I learned Portuguese through my grandparents, who couldn\u2019t speak a word of English, so that\u2019s how come I can now speak both languages. My mother and father spoke English; they spoke the two languages.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And when did the grandparents come to the United States?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know, it was way before I was born \u2013 way before that. [The interviewee\u2019s paternal grandparents, the Silvias, immigrated to the United States before 1896; her maternal grandparents, the Salgados, before 1909.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did they work in Fall River when they came here?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My grandfather [Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado<\/em>] did. He worked at the \u2013 at the cotton mill in Fall River, the mill that was \u2026 on Rodman Street [Richard Borden Manufacturing Company, 440 Rodman Street<\/em>]. He worked in that cotton mill. I remember taking the cotton off of his whiskers in the morning. My grandmother [Mrs. Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado, n\u00e9e Margarida \u2018Margaret\u2019 Soares<\/em>] was a stay-at-home wife; she stood home taking care of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And how many children did they have?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My grandmother only had my mother and my aunt [Sarah Rapoza Salgado, who later married her first cousin, Manuel Rapoza Salgado<\/em>]. And they \u2013 my aunt [Sarah] came to this country [when<\/em>] she was twelve years old. But, my grandparents had to leave her behind [when they immigrated<\/em>] so they could come to this country and try to make a life. So, once they got their lives situated, they sent for her, and then, in the meantime my mother was born here [in Fall River<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Okay, and tell me about your mother and your father.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I had a wonderful mother [n\u00e9e Virginia Rapoza Salgado<\/em>] and father [Seraphine Peter Silvia<\/em>]. They were very good, and I was brought up old-fashioned, you know, they took good care of us. My father worked, my mother tried working, but then we were always sick so she stood home to take care of us, you know, always with a cold or something like that. But, uh, other than that, my father was the breadwinner of the house. [The interviewee\u2019s mother was the second wife of Seraphine Peter Silvia; the couple married in 1936. His first wife, n\u00e9e Eliza Martin, whom he married circa 1919, was a native of the Azores, having immigrated to the United States in 1918; she died on December 4, 1935, giving birth to the couple\u2019s third child, a \u2018female baby,\u2019 who also died. The cause of death Eliza\u2019s death was \u2018pre-partum hemorrhage (acute separation of placenta); shock following Caesarian section.\u2019 The couple\u2019s two surviving children, Alphonse \u2018Al\u2019 Peter Silvia, born in 1921<\/em>, and Lawrence \u2018Sonny\u2019 Peter Silvia<\/em>, born in 1931 were the interviewee\u2019s half-brothers.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And where did your father work?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My father worked on the farm. He did farm work \u2013 milking cows, cultivating the land, and all of that. Back then, when we got a job, the house came with the job. You didn\u2019t pay any rent because that came with the job, and the milk came with the job. So, we had fresh milk every morning, right from the cow to the house. My father would bring the pail and my mother had another kind of a pail to put it in to keep it in the refrigerator.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Now, where was this farm?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> The farm was in Tiverton, [Rhode Island, at 405<\/em>] Nanaquaket Road; George [Sousa<\/em>] Magan [owned it<\/em>]. We lived there \u2013 it was a nice house, very nice.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> This is the first time I\u2019m hearing about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Oh yeah, my father worked for him for a long time \u2013 for years. In fact, I used to go with Mr. Magan\u2019s cousin [Elizabeth Magan<\/em>]; we would go collecting the money for the milk every Saturday morning, because people would, they\u2019d have their customers, and at the end of the week \u2026 we would go collect the money from the milk they delivered all week.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Now, did you get involved in the farm? Did you work on the farm?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, no, we didn\u2019t work on the farm. My father did the work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And the house was there.
\n<\/span>
\n DA:<\/strong> The house was there \u2013 I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s still there now\u2026. We had like a two-tenement house and we lived on the second floor.\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How many children were there at the time?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> There was only myself and my sister [Margaret Silvia, later Mrs. Frank Owsney<\/em>]. My two brothers [Alphonse \u2018Al\u2019 Peter Silvia, and Lawrence \u2018Sonny\u2019 Peter Silvia<\/em>] were married, so they were on their own, doing their own lives. But we would see them on weekends, and we go have a nice get-together on a weekend. My mother would do the cooking and we would all have our lunch together.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Now, were you born in Tiverton, [Rhode Island<\/em>]?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, I was born in Fall River.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, at the time, where were you living in Fall River when you were born?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Well, my father and my mother were living in Swansea, [Massachusetts, on Warren Road<\/em>]. Before Mr. Magan, there was another farmer that he worked for, and then he took them to be my god-parents; they became good friends. His name was Michael [Miguel S<\/em>.] Massa \u2013 that\u2019s who he worked for.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Ok, I am going to write that down.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> The one that I, [it<\/em>] was Michael [Miguel S.<\/em>] Massa [and his wife, Mary C. Massa<\/em>] who became my godparents.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And Mr. Magan.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> And \u2026 Mr. George [Sousa<\/em>] Magan was on Nanaquaket Road in Tiverton, Rhode Island.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, those were the two farms?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Those are the two farms that I can remember. My father always worked on the farm, and then, when the \u2013 when the farms started fading away, then he went to work at the Truesdale Hospital [Inc., 1820 Highland Avenue, Fall River<\/em>], helping out in the kitchen.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, he was always working.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My father was a good worker; he was a good breadwinner. He never wanted my mother to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did he ever tell you stories about the [Great<\/em>] Depression?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, they never did. We never did.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I know times were tough.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yeah, those times were tough, but they never told us anything about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, you grew up with a sister and two brothers.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And, did you have your own room?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, I shared a bed with my sister. We shared our room, we both slept in the same bed \u2013 no separate beds back then. It was a little house, it was only a little apartment [at 308 Ferry Street<\/em>], you know, when we came to the city [circa 1939<\/em>]. But even on the farm \u2026 we both slept in the same bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, how did you get along?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> We got along good. She was cranky sometimes but, you know, just like siblings do, but we loved one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Now did you go to school in Tiverton, [Rhode Island<\/em>] or was it in Swansea, [Massachusetts<\/em>]?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I went to school in Tiverton \u2026 I went to school in, umm, oh, Fort Barton [Elementary<\/em>] School [99 Lawton Avenue<\/em>] in Tiverton, when we lived on Mr. Magan\u2019s house\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> You were born in nineteen \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I was born in 1937, October 18, 1937. Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Now, were there any duties, any particular duties that you had to do in the house?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Oh, yes, we had to clean, you know, I\u2019d help clean the house on the weekend. And, you know, girls weren\u2019t \u2013 in my house was like that \u2013 the outside is for the boys, the girls stay indoors, doing your homework when you get out of school, and whatever she [the interviewees mother<\/em>] had planned for us to do, we did it. And on the weekends, I remember beating the carpets with the wire thing with a handle \u2026 put it out on the line, and beat the carpets. And we cleaned the house, and my mother did the cooking.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did you also learn how to cook?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, I did.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> What were the favorite recipes?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Well, no recipes. We \u2013 back then, they don\u2019t have recipes. Even myself, I never had a recipe, I did it the way I saw them do it. We\u2019d marinate the meat when it was roast meat, roast chicken, turkey, we\u2019d marinate it. Make beans, we made the baked beans. In fact, I handed down the recipe, well, I made up the recipe, because it wasn\u2019t \u2013 my mother made the baked beans, and I did it like her. So, then, when I came into this nursing home [Somerset Ridge Center, 455 Brayton Avenue, Somerset, Massachusetts<\/em>], I handed down to my daughter [Mrs. Antonio Pereira, n\u00e9e Lori Ann Almeida<\/em>] and my son [Kevin James Almeida<\/em>], how to make the baked beans, and they make it. Very simple, so.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I remember growing up with my grandmother, and we used to do a lot of house cleaning, and we used to put curtains on a stretcher.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> On the stretcher with the pins that stuck up, and we\u2019d stretch that good, and those curtains were beautiful after they got dried up and put them on the window. I remember having the organdy curtains; those were tough, but put them on the stretcher \u2013 you didn\u2019t have to press them. They take two people \u2026 we took it out, and I remember my sister on one end and I\u2019m on the other end folding in half, make the crease, fold again, make another crease, so by the time they hung on the window, they were nice. The creases were beautiful, yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did you have a washing machine?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Well, my mother, we didn\u2019t get a washing machine until later on, and the first washing machine we had was a Maytag [Washing Machine Company, later Maytag, Inc. Newton, Iowa<\/em>] with the rolling pin [Maytag Wringer Washer<\/em>]. We put the [wet<\/em>] clothes through the roller \u2013 how many times they got stuck going around the roller \u2013 release it. But those were good days.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, before that, you probably had to wash [laundry<\/em>] by hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> We would boil the clothes before that, we would boil the clothes. I remember my mother and my grandmother [Mrs. Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado, n\u00e9e Margarida \u2018Margaret\u2019 Soares<\/em>] putting the clothes \u2013 they save a special pan just to put the clothes, dirty clothes in there \u2013 and then they boil the clothes, and then wash it on the scrubbing board. The clothes come out nice and white, and [they used<\/em>] Octagon [Laundry<\/em>] soap, [manufactured by Colgate-Palmolive-Peet, New York, New York<\/em>] and bluing during laundering for the white clothes. [Bluing was<\/em> a product habitually used to improve the appearance of white textiles; added to the water during rinsing, it added a hint of blue dye to the fabric, enhancing its brilliance<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> You are bringing back a lot of memories for me, also, because my grandmother had a washing machine with a ringer, and then she would turn the ringer around, so that the clothes could go into the rinse.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Right, the water would go back into the \u2013 yes, that\u2019s how we did it.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And the bluing was in that water.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Right, to make the clothes white-white. And the clothes did come out nice and white.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> The dryers. We hung things outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No dryers. We hung things outside on the line, yes, and then, when the laundry came, then we would send the jeans and the clothes to the laundry, but never to wash and dry. We always dried it on the line \u2026 always on the line. [So-called \u2018wet wash\u2019 laundry was returned to the customer wet to be home-dried<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, how did you heat the house in those days?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> In those days, we helped warm the house with kerosene heaters, kerosene stoves, and also came along the combination stoves, half gas, and the other half kerosene.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I haven\u2019t heard about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Oh, yeah, my [maternal<\/em>] grandmother had one, and we had one. It was half kerosene and the other half was the gas stove. A big long stove, and then the top we polished it on the Saturday, we polished that with a black polish [called \u2018stove black\u2019<\/em>], and boy, that would shine beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I think before that, too, my [maternal<\/em>] grandparents had wood; they had wood and they also had coal.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I don\u2019t remember the coal and the wood. When I was growing up, it was kerosene. And the heaters and the stoves would have two, uh, tanks. You\u2019d fill one and then you would have to fill the other one, so during the night you wouldn\u2019t \u2013 the house wouldn\u2019t get cold \u2013 in the morning, we would get up, the house was cold. Run down the cellar, go fill it up with kerosene, and then get the stove going again and warm it up.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, you went to \u2026 Fort Barton Elementary School. Did you go to another school after elementary school?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, then we came \u2013 my father, by then, the farm gave up \u2013 and then we went to Fall River [circa 1948<\/em>], and then I went to the Susan H. Wixon Elementary School [263 Hamlet Street<\/em>] and I graduated from there [in 1953<\/em>]. [The interviewee resided with her parents in Fall River at: 308 Ferry Street, circa 1939-40; 76 Hunter Street, circa 1942-44; 22 Danforth Street, circa 1948-49; and 616 Third Street, circa 1950 \u2013 until her marriage in 1956<\/em>. During the years for which there are gaps, her father was employed as a laborer on farms outside the city<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> From the Susan Wixon School.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> From the eighth grade, and then from there I went to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> That was very typical. That happened to my mother as well, from grade eight, and she would have been older than you, but it was in the \u201830s and you know it was the [Great<\/em>] Depression and times were tough.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I remember during the war, World War II, we all had [coupon<\/em>] books \u2013 we had the ration then, and we\u2019d get them once a month \u2013 we\u2019d wait in line to go get sugar and flour and meat, and it was very scarce. And back then I remember that there wasn\u2019t even nylons for the women to wear. That\u2019s when they would start coloring their legs [so-called \u2018paint-on-hosiery<\/em>\u2019] with a spray to make it look as though they had stockings on \u2013 nylons on. That was during World War II \u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Tell me about holidays and birthdays.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Holidays was very nice; we\u2019d all be together. Birthdays, we didn\u2019t make too much of birthdays \u2013 my mother never made too much of birthdays. But, holidays we were always together. And every night, all family oriented, always. So, we had, I had good memories.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And were you brought up with the Catholic Church or\u2026?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, the [Roman<\/em>] Catholic Church. I went to Santo Cristo Church [240 Columbia Street, Fall River<\/em>], and \u2026 when I got married [in 1956<\/em>], I also went to Sts. Peter and Paul Church [Snell Street, corner Dover Street, Fall River<\/em>]. But, I took [First Holy<\/em>] Communion in Santo Cristo Church, [the sacrament of<\/em>] confirmation, [and<\/em>] I got married in Santo Cristo Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I think it\u2019s the oldest Portuguese church [in Fall River.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, it is, I think so \u2026 they are all gone now, most of them. [The parish history can be traced back to the founding of the first mission in Fall River established to serve the Portuguese community in 1876<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Okay, I am going to ask you a little bit more about the community of, well, actually, Swansea, [Massachusetts,<\/em>] and Tiverton, [Rhode Island,<\/em>] and Fall River. Tell me about the community that you grew up in. What was that like? Your neighbors?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Neighbors were very \u2013 well, in Tiverton and Swansea neighbors were far apart. I don\u2019t know too much about Swansea, like I said, when I was born, we were living there, but I remember mostly Tiverton, and Fall River \u2013 where we lived, you know, everybody was very, uh, looking after one another. They would not \u2013 if you were sick, and [they<\/em>] knew you were sick, they\u2019d make you some chicken soup, and take it over to the neighbor because that neighbor was sick, and sit with that neighbor for a little while to see how they, you know, if they needed any help, they would help them. There were more, it was more get-togethers with neighbors. Not all the time, but most of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> What neighborhood was that in Fall River? Where was that?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> That was around, uh, Hunter Street and Columbia [Street<\/em>]. Hunter, Hope [Street<\/em>], that was where we lived \u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, you must have seen a lot of the Portuguese [religious<\/em>] feasts and processions.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Oh, yes, we went to those processions. I remember taking some sweetbread [massa sovada<\/em>] when they have the Holy Ghost Feast [Festas do Espirito Santo<\/em>] at Santo Cristo Church, and my grandmother [Mrs. Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado, n\u00e9e Margarida \u2018Margaret\u2019 Soares<\/em>] would make the home-made sweetbread, and wrap it up \u2026 and tie it with red ribbon, the red ribbon, so I could take it to the church, and I would take it, my sister and I would take it. [The Festas do Esp\u00edrito Santo, or Holy Ghost Festival, plays an integral role in the lives of devout Azoreans, and Azorean-Americans, and usually begins on Pentecost Sunday, running through the spring. The festival was founded by the 13th<\/sup> century Queen Saint Elizabeth (Isabel), formerly a princess of Aragon, who was Queen Regent of Portugal, the consort of King Denis; a devout model of Christian charity, she was noted for her religious piety, charity, and devotion to her work for the poor.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did you march in the processions?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, yes, and also I handed that down to my daughter, too; she went in the processions a lot.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I am going to jump ahead a little bit and you mentioned World War II, and you said you had two older brothers. Were they drafted?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My oldest brother [Alphonse \u2018Al\u2019 Peter Silvia<\/em>], he volunteered because they were going to be drafted, but he volunteered to go into the service [United States Army, enlisted January 5, 1944<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did [he<\/em>] come home?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> [He<\/em>] came home.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> That\u2019s wonderful. Your mother must have been very worried.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Oh, yeah, she was worried. We wouldn\u2019t have Christmas. My mother would say, \u2018No Christmas, your brother is in a war. We\u2019re not having a Christmas. We will have a Christmas when he comes home.\u2019 And we waited and waited, and I remember they would have the lights go off, the, oh, what was that? You know, like, air raids. I remember the air raids we had, and have to shut your curtains, and the shades \u2013 back then were [black out<\/em>] shades \u2013 and no lights on because you\u2019d have the police [Air Raid Wardens<\/em>] knocking at your door; they patrolled to see who had lights on. For [when<\/em>] the air raid came you had to have everything in darkness, \u2018til they put out another \u2026 a different kind of a sound that it was over, and then you can put the lights on again. It was always at night that would happen; I remember that.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Do you remember where your brother served in the war?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My brother was [a Private First Class<\/em>] in the infantry.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Was he overseas \u2026 ?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, he was over there, and it was a very nice \u2013 a very happy day when [he<\/em>] came home.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> That\u2019s wonderful; many families lost brothers.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I know. I had a friend of mine [Teresa L. Pacheco<\/em>], she lost her brother [Fernando Pacheco<\/em>], missing in action, and her mother [Mrs. Jo\u00e3o \u201cJohn\u201d Pacheco n\u00e9e Hortencia Domingos<\/em>], from that day on, her mother never walked, never talked, stayed bedridden until she died. Yeah, a lot of things back then. [Fernando Pacheco, United States Army, Private First Class, was killed in action on September 17, 1944; he had enlisted on March 11, 1943. His remains were interred in Notre Dame Cemetery, Fall River, on August 20, 1948.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Let\u2019s go back to the Wixon School. After you graduated and you said you went to work, how did that transition take place?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I went to work, we used to walk to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Where did you work?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I worked, I started working at the Pleasant Curtain [Company, 237 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>] first. Folding curtains, upstairs from, uh, it used to be Rogers\u2019 Restaurant [Rogers Cafeteria, 261 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>], you know, [Francis<\/em>] Rogers [and his wife Theresa C. Rogers<\/em>] from Somerset, [Massachusetts<\/em>]? They used to have a little restaurant.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I know where that is, and over that restaurant was Pleasant Curtain [Company<\/em>]?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Pleasant Curtain [Company<\/em>], and I worked there for a long time. Then I went \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> What did you do there?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I folded curtains.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Folded?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I folded curtains.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> After they\u2019ve already been sewn?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> After they were sewed, and they would go through a press, where the man \u2013 the fellow \u2013 would feed it through this machine, and we would be on the other end, and it will come out all pressed, and you fold it in half, and then put it on a box. Then we go to the table and fold it, and then put it in packages for the different sizes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Was that piecework?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, it wasn\u2019t piecework. We had to put out a certain amount \u2013 a quota \u2013 we had a quota to put out, but it was not piecework.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> But they, probably \u2013 the sewers?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> The sewing machines, the sewers were all on piecework. The rod and hemmers, and the people who did the drapes \u2013 because they also did drapes \u2013 and they were all on piecework, but we weren\u2019t, we were on time work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How did you get that job?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> A friend of mine [Teresa Sousa, the wife of the interviewee\u2019s cousin, David Sousa<\/em>] knew my mother, and \u2026 \u2018My daughter is looking for a job, she needs to get a job,\u2019 so she spoke to me and I got the job. Making seventy-five-cents an hour back then [and<\/em>] that was working forty hours a week. Coming home, don\u2019t touch your pay, they put it in the envelope, they staple it, and I give it to my mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> They gave you cash?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> It was cash, back then they gave you cash; no checks, it was all cash.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Then, you brought that home.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Brought it home to my mother the way they gave it to us, then my mother would give me two dollars a week.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I saw my family do something with the \u2013 the cash \u2013 that was brought home; they used to call it in Portuguese, \u2018countar\u2019<\/em> [pronounced <\/em>coon.tar<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> \u2018Countar<\/em>,\u2019 yeah. Well, that means they would figure out the money, count the money. They make the countar<\/em> about this for rent, this for food, this for this, this for that. Pay this bill, got your furniture bill, or a store. Back then a lot of people would buy groceries and pay it at the end of the week. Some grocery store who knew you, the grocery man, yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And then you put some money into the envelope for insurance.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Insurance, yes, like $2 a week, $2.50 in for the insurance man; by the time he came, we had our money. And money for church, we had to put money for church \u2013 you\u2019d better put seventy-five cents \u2013 we put it in the envelope for church, and we\u2019d have to go to church every Sunday. You don\u2019t go to church, you don\u2019t go out; we couldn\u2019t go to a movie because you didn\u2019t go to church. And when you get home, the clothes you used for church, we take them, put them away, and use other clothes. That Sunday clothes, they were special.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Just for Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Just for Sunday. Shoes, dress, no matter what it was, it was just for Sundays.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I think on Sunday, too, you had a family dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> We had the family dinner and then we would sit around and talk. Yup, very nice.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Now, your brothers, I guess \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> They\u2019re both passed. [Alphonse \u201cAl\u201d Peter Silvia, died in 1983, and Lawrence \u201cSonny\u201d Peter Silvia, who chose to cease contact with his family for decades, may have died in 1997.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> They contributed to the house, too, and your sister?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, they did. My sister [Margaret Silvia, later Mrs. Frank Owsney<\/em>] did, but already the times were different, because I was two years older than her \u2026 things were different. My brothers and all, they come in, they give the money to my mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did she work after school? Did she go right to work right after school or did your sister go on to high school?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, my sister didn\u2019t go to high school, she went to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How about your brothers, did they go to high school?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, they didn\u2019t. They all went to work. Back then you had to go to work because you had to help contribute money to the house because, when my father worked on the farm, they were only getting $35 a week, and was working from sun up to sun down. But we didn\u2019t have to pay rent, we only had to buy food, and pay no electric because everything came together.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> But that was a total of six people to support, and that is quite a responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> But we managed. A lot of soup and different things, you know?<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How could you save any money on your allowance?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Well, I tried putting it away. We would save a little bit just at Christmas so we could buy something for one another, for our parents and our brothers. A little bit of something, like an ashtray or something \u2013 just a little memento, that we would do, so.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> What did you do for, I should say, recreation? Movies? Or going out?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I remember going to the Plaza [Theatre, 381 South Main Street, Fall River<\/em>] for fifteen cents.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Oh, my.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> And we would get a chapter, we\u2019d get the world news [newsreels<\/em>], we\u2019d get two movies [double-feature<\/em>]; I could spend a whole day in the show, in the movies at the Plaza Theatre. Fifteen cents we paid, and then the other movies were like fifty-five cents, and then they went up to seventy-five cents. We\u2019d get two movies, two coming attractions \u2013 and two movies, at other theatres.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> This would be when you were a teenager?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> When I was working. When I was a teenager I couldn\u2019t go to the movies, my mother wouldn\u2019t allow us to go to the movies. But when we worked, you know, it was different, they let us go. But we had to be home by a certain time. \u2018Movies should be done by four o\u2019clock; you should be in this house by five o\u2019clock,\u2019 and we would have to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How did you get home? Were you walking?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> We walked. We walked home. We were in walking distance, so we\u2019d walk home. [The Silvia family residence at 616 Third Street, Fall River, was approximately three city blocks from the Plaza Theatre<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Very good. Now how did, you started with Pleasant Curtain [Company<\/em>] and what was the next job?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> The next job \u2013 I worked there a long time \u2013 then after I went and worked at the Atlas Curtain [Atlas Manufacturing Company 288 Plymouth Avenue, Fall River<\/em>] \u2026 I worked there. I worked until I got married [in 1956<\/em>], and I worked there a good five, six years.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And when did you get married?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Then when I got married? I got married [on May 30,<\/em>] 1956, and I had my oldest boy [Louis William Almeida<\/em>] in \u201858.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How did you meet your husband?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> He [James Francis Almeida, Jr.<\/em>] was the boy across the street. He lived across the street from me [at 621 Third Street, Fall River<\/em>]. Yeah, so we got to talking, him on the outside of the fence, me on the inside of the fence; we weren\u2019t allowed to go out with any boys.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And how many in his family?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My husband had two sisters [Patricia Ann Almeida, later Mrs. Joseph George Andre Cormier, and Natalie Almeida<\/em>]; that was it.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> This was on Hope Street?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, no, this was on, by then we were living [at 616<\/em>] Third Street [in Fall River<\/em>]. We, my mother had moved. My father was then working at the Truesdale Hospital [Inc., as a \u2018kitchen helper\u2019<\/em>] and \u2026 my aunt [Mrs. Manuel Rapoza Salgado n\u00e9e Catherine R. Medeiros<\/em>] bought a house on Third Street, and that\u2019s where we lived \u2013 and my husband lived across the street from me.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How did you get to know your husband? I mean, he lived across the street but did you go out on dates?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No dates. Not until I was about a good seventeen years old, almost eighteen. No, we didn\u2019t date too much back then. It was at the fence, our dating was at the fence. I said to my mother, \u2018He wants to go get a chow mein sandwich.\u2019 \u2018You better take your sister with you\u2019 \u2013 we always had to have a sister with us, couldn\u2019t go alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Always had a chaperone.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> All the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, someone would squeal on you if something went wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How long did you court? I have to use the word courting.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Two years, two years; then we got married.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> At the Santo Cristo Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> At the Santo Cristo Church, yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Tell me about your children.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My children, I had three. My oldest one\u2019s [Louis William Almeida<\/em>] passed already [in 1993<\/em>]. Now I have my daughter [Mrs. Antonio Pereira, n\u00e9e Lori Ann Almeida<\/em>], and my son [Kevin James Almeida<\/em>] who come to visit me almost every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And how were they brought up? I know it was \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> They were brought up the same way I was brought up.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Is that right?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, I did. Although, when my daughter was going with her husband I was a little more lenient, I let her go. But I would tell them, \u2018You better not do anything, nothing better happen, or else.\u2019 I\u2019d say that, and honest to God, I said that for two years. He [the interviewee\u2019s son-in-law, Antonio Perreira<\/em>] says to me, \u2018I am sick of hearing it.\u2019 \u2018You are going to hear it until you walk her down the aisle.\u2019 I did.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> What were your activities together as a family, with your children?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> We would go on, like, every year we would go on vacation. No more than maybe three [days<\/em>]; that was enough for me, living out of a suitcase. Yes, we go to New Hampshire \u2013 they loved to go to New Hampshire \u2013 we would go up towards the White Mountains.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Very nice.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Then, we go out together, go for rides together, and you know, we\u2019d do a lot of things.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Different, you do different things.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> We did it, yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> You had those vacations. But your husband \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My husband worked, I worked, and\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> What kind of work did your husband do?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My husband worked at Haskon [Aerospace<\/em>] in, uh, Taunton, [Massachusetts<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Haskon, I don\u2019t know that place.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> They made a little thing, little parts of airplanes, and then when they come in to do going up, with space, about space, he also did some things for the space thing. Whatever. I don\u2019t know if they are still there, but that is where he worked for twenty-three-and-a-half years.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Well, I ask those questions because so many of the companies have gone out of business.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I\u2019m sure they\u2019ve gone. They\u2019ve gone. [Esterline Haskon Aerospace, closed its Taunton, Massachusetts facility in 2010<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> For example, curtain manufacturing. There are so many, so many factories in Fall River that were curtain factories. I know I had a cousin that was, uh, I can\u2019t think of the name of the shop now, it\u2019s on Pleasant Street, further up.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Louis Hand [Inc., Division of Aberdeen Manufacturing Corporation, 847 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Louis Hand \u2013 that was one. That is out of business.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Louis hand \u2013 that was a big one.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> That was very big.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> That was big, there was another one down north [Paroma Draperies, Inc. 2 Weaver Street, Fall River<\/em>], and that\u2019s all gone. They are all gone. All shops are gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I think a lot of it was competition from overseas.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> It was competition; the union, they didn\u2019t care that the boss didn\u2019t want to go with them, do what they wanted to do. That\u2019s what happened when I worked. I also went back to work after my daughter was born [in 1963<\/em>], a year-and-a-half later, and I worked at the K & G dress shop [K. & G. Manufacturing Company, Inc., dress manufacturers, 187 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>] and, uh, the union shut him down. He was a wonderful person to work for.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> How did that happen? Why would they shut that place down?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Because they wanted him to do \u2013 to join in on the union with certain things, and he didn\u2019t want to. So, the union just come in and they shut him down. You know, they would pay people to come during the night and destroy the material, and he couldn\u2019t work the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Who owned that shop?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Al [Abraham Albert<\/em>] Leshinsky.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Okay.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> That was at the [former<\/em>] Union Mills [Union Cotton Manufacturing Company, Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Yeah, I know where that is. Now, when did you join the union? Were you a union member early on, maybe back at Pleasant Curtain [Company<\/em>]?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, we were in the union. Then, that was Amalgamated Union [Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Locals Nos. 177 and 376, 142 Second Street, Fall Rive<\/em>r]. The dress shops was the ILG [ILGWU, International Ladies Garments Workers Union, Local No 178, Garment Workers Square, 38 Third Street, Fall River<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, how did that work out for you, I mean, in terms of getting a pension?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Well, I didn\u2019t \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Two different unions.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, but no, I didn\u2019t, we didn\u2019t bother to claim that other one at the Amalgamated [Clothing Workers of America<\/em>]; it wasn\u2019t worth it. And then when it came to work to get the money from, when I retired, from Ladies International [ILGWU, International Ladies Garments Workers Union<\/em>], my husband said, \u2018It\u2019s not worth it.\u2019 I had, like twelve years in that union, so my husband said it wasn\u2019t worth it, he said, \u2018Let it go, what are you going to get for twelve years?\u2019 So, I just let it go.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So you never got a union pension?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, I lived on my husband\u2019s pension, my husband\u2019s pension.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> That\u2019s disappointing, to put in all those years and not get a union pension.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I know, I know, but \u2013 we wouldn\u2019t make much, we didn\u2019t pay that much into the union, so you wouldn\u2019t get much, unless I had my thirty \u2013 even having, uh, what, thirty years in the union, it was no more than one hundred something dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And that was in ILG[WU<\/em>]?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes, they didn\u2019t pay much.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> I am going to go back a little bit and just ask you things like when you got your first telephone.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Oh, we were living on Nanaquaket Road [in Tiverton, Rhode Island<\/em>] when we got our first telephone. I was single. And it was \u2013 you hold up with one hand and you put the other piece in your ear. \u2018Hello?\u2019 Four party line and then they\u2019d take too long. They\u2019d say, \u2018Get off the phone! We need to use the phone!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> But that was pretty exciting.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> It was exciting back then, yes. Oh, we had our telephone, yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Who could you call? You had to have family [members<\/em>] that had a phone.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I called my brother [Alphonse \u2018Al\u2019 Peter Silvia<\/em>] in Fall River, we would call my brothers. I don\u2019t remember [about<\/em>] my aunt \u2013 my aunt had a phone, but I don\u2019t know when she got her phone. But we would, you know, call people.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Did you always have electric light or gas light?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I remember, we always had electric. When I was growing up it was electric. The electric had come in to\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Now, how about a car? How about a first time your family had a car?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> My father bought a car. He had bought a Hudson [Hudson Motor Car Company, Detroit, Michigan<\/em>] and we\u2019d go out on the Sunday for a drive. During the week, that was for him to go to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Any other thoughts about your family and the changes that you went through from the \u201830s to the present?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, it was okay, we had a good, you know, we had a good relationship all the way through. We were always a very close family all the, all the way \u2013 we were always very close.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> What do you think of some of the events today? Like the women\u2019s movement in the 1960s and \u201870s and the way, um, we are interacting today. It\u2019s very different from when you were growing up.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Oh yes. But still \u2013 I\u2019m so old-fashioned. To me, a woman\u2019s job is a woman\u2019s job, and a man\u2019s job is a man\u2019s job. I can\u2019t see, I don\u2019t like, or don\u2019t care to see, I wouldn\u2019t care to have anyone in my family doing a man\u2019s job. But, if that was what they wanted, you know? It\u2019s different today, but I\u2019m still from the old school. A man\u2019s job is a man\u2019s job, a woman\u2019s job is a woman\u2019s job.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And what do you think of computers and the way with that?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> That to me, a computer is the worst thing they come out with \u2013 computers. There is Facebook, and everything \u2013 the whole world knows your business. I don\u2019t like it. I never did, I never did like computers.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Good point.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> The way of the world; it\u2019s become a lazy world.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> That was what I was going to ask you. How do you see the world changing since when you were young?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s, it\u2019s terrible what the way it goes, you know, everything [is<\/em>] going, so, people killing people. We wouldn\u2019t hear that \u2013 never around here, never. But, it\u2019s horrible today. No one can talk to one without using something that they shouldn\u2019t be using.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> The world has changed \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Very much so, yes, it has. It\u2019s sad because you are not safe nowhere; today, no one is safe anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, when you retired, what was some of the interests that you had after retirement. Your grandchildren?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> After retirement, I put myself taking care of my grandchildren.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Well, I think \u2026 if you want to conclude it at that point. [But<\/em>] I can ask you a few more things. I asked you about women\u2019s liberation, civil rights, \u2018ya know, you\u2019ve seen all of that change.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> You\u2019ve seen all of that change.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> It\u2019s too bad that \u2013 it\u2019s good that people can get out there and vote, but, the way it is today I don\u2019t know \u2013 it\u2019s the world is upside-down, the world is upside-down today. It\u2019s not a world like when I was being brought up. Yes, I just, I get that I had a wonderful life, and now I am here [Somerset Ridge Center, 455 Brayton Avenue, Somerset, Massachusetts<\/em>]. I have another life here, and I am happy here.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> And I heard that you\u2019re, um \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I am President of the Residents\u2019 Council.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, you\u2019re a leader. What is that all about?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Well, it\u2019s those who cannot speak for themselves now. When I say, \u2018Those who cannot say, those who cannot speak for themselves,\u2019 are the people with Alzheimer\u2019s; they can\u2019t speak for themselves, so I\u2019m here to speak for them. I feel like if I had a parent who had a sickness like that, I would want someone to speak up for them if something wasn\u2019t going right.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> So, you kind of check on them and make sure things are going right?<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> Well, we talk together and I\u2019m friendly with everyone and I keep my eyes open, and we see everything, and it\u2019s a wonderful place. I fell into a beautiful place here.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Excellent. Very good. So, you are involved in the leadership here.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I never thought in my life I would ever become President of [a<\/em>] Resident\u2019s Council, but here I am.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Okay, well I am going to stop at this point\u2026. I really enjoyed talking with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> I enjoyed talking with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR:<\/strong> Thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA:<\/strong> No, thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FALL RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY Women at Work: An Oral History of Working-Class Women in Fall River, Massachusetts 1920-1970   Interview with Mrs. James Francis Almeida, Jr., n\u00e9e Delores Silvia Interviewer: (JR) Joyce Rodrigues Interviewee: (DA) Delores (Silvia) Almeida Date of Interview: June 10, 2015 Location: Somerset Ridge Center, Somerset, Massachusetts \u00a0 Summary: Delores (Silvia) Almeida was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, on October 18, 1937. She came of age at the height of her native city\u2019s garment manufacturing period. She graduated in 1953 from eighth grade at the Susan B. Wixon Elementary School, and like her sister and brothers before her, immediately went to work to contribute to the household. Work Experience Fall River factory work was plentiful and jobs were readily available in the 1950s and 1960s. As an example, there were 101 factories listed in the 1951 edition of the Directory of Massachusetts Manufacturers\u2019, which lists companies employing fifty or more production workers. These jobs were diverse and included the manufacturing of curtains, ladies dresses, men\u2019s shirts, children\u2019s wear, luggage, loose-leaf binders, and lighting fixtures. Delores\u2019 career took her to: – Pleasant Curtain Company, 237 Pleasant Street – Atlas Manufacturing (curtain) Company, 288 Plymouth Avenue – K & G Manufacturing Company, Inc. (ladies dresses),\u00a0187 Pleasant Street. By the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, American factory and garment workers were facing growing overseas competition. Commenting on this period, Delores notes the impact of this development on the local economy: \u201c\u2026 There [were] so many factories in Fall River\u2026They are all gone. All [the] shops are gone.\u201d Like the textile decline in the 1920s, Fall River in the last quarter\u00a0of the twentieth century would once again face economic instability and the prospect of an uncertain future. Family Life Delores is a second-generation Portuguese-American. Her grandparents immigrated to the United States from the island of St. Michael in the Azores; her father and mother were born in the United States in 1896 and 1909 respectively. Delores was brought up on a farm. Her father worked as a farm manager for a family in Swansea, Massachusetts, and for the George Magan family in Tiverton, Rhode Island. She was brought up \u201cold-fashioned.\u201d Her father\u2019s job on the Magan farm came with a rent-free house and fresh milk every day. The family eventually moved to Fall River. \u201cMy father always worked on the farm, and then, when the farms started fading away, he went to work at the Truesdale Hospital [1820 Highland Avenue] helping out in the kitchen.\u201d Delores started working at the age of sixteen, and retired at age sixty-two with a pension from Social Security and with no pension from the ILGWU-UNITE union because she did not have enough years. Delores met and married James Francis Almeida, Jr., \u201c\u2026 the boy across the street\u201d; Their wedding was at the Santo Christo Church (Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres) on Columbia Street, on May 30, 1956. The couple had three children. After retirement, Delores took care of her grandchildren and today is active as the president of a senior residents\u2019 council.   \u00a0 Note: This interview has been slightly edited for continuity and readability; in order to preserve the integrity of the conversation, the phraseology remains that of the interviewer and interviewee. Italicized information in square brackets has been added for the purposes of clarification and context.   JR: This is June 10, 2015. We\u2019re at Somerset Ridge and this is Delores Almeida who we are interviewing today, and the interviewer is Joyce Rodrigues. So we are going to get started. Let\u2019s get started. JR: Okay, Delores, I heard a lot about you\u2026. Tell me about your family; tell me about your parents and grandparents. DA: My \u2026 grandparents were born in the Old Country in [Sa\u00f5 Miguel, Azores] Portugal. [The interviewee\u2019s paternal grandparents, Jos\u00e9 \u201cJoseph\u201d Peter Silvia, and his wife, n\u00e9e Rita de Jesus immigrated from Capelas, S\u00e3o Miguel, Azores; her maternal grandparents, Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado and his wife, n\u00e9e Margarida \u2018Margaret\u2019 Soares, immigrated from Relva, a civic parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, S\u00e3o Miguel, Azores]. JR: You mean the Azores? DA: The Azores \u2013 and my mother [n\u00e9e Virginia Rapoza Salgado] and father [Seraphine Peter Silvia] were born here in the United States. [The interviewee\u2019s mother was born in Fall River 1909; her father, was born in Somerset, Massachusetts, in 1896]. And I learned Portuguese through my grandparents, who couldn\u2019t speak a word of English, so that\u2019s how come I can now speak both languages. My mother and father spoke English; they spoke the two languages. JR: And when did the grandparents come to the United States? DA: I don\u2019t know, it was way before I was born \u2013 way before that. [The interviewee\u2019s paternal grandparents, the Silvias, immigrated to the United States before 1896; her maternal grandparents, the Salgados, before 1909.] JR: Did they work in Fall River when they came here? DA: My grandfather [Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado] did. He worked at the \u2013 at the cotton mill in Fall River, the mill that was \u2026 on Rodman Street [Richard Borden Manufacturing Company, 440 Rodman Street]. He worked in that cotton mill. I remember taking the cotton off of his whiskers in the morning. My grandmother [Mrs. Louiz \u2018Luis\u2019 Rapoza Salgado, n\u00e9e Margarida \u2018Margaret\u2019 Soares] was a stay-at-home wife; she stood home taking care of us. JR: And how many children did they have? DA: My grandmother only had my mother and my aunt [Sarah Rapoza Salgado, who later married her first cousin, Manuel Rapoza Salgado]. And they \u2013 my aunt [Sarah] came to this country [when] she was twelve years old. But, my grandparents had to leave her behind [when they immigrated] so they could come to this country and try to make a life. So, once they got their lives situated, they sent for her, and then, in the meantime my mother was born here [in Fall River]. JR: Okay, and tell me about your mother and your father. DA: I had a wonderful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4252"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5971,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4252\/revisions\/5971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}