Azorean Americans]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Civic leaders]]> Portuguese language]]> Factories]]> Community development, Urban]]> Oral History Interview with Dimas Espinola, October 19, 2017

Biographical Note:

Born on the Azorean island of Terceira, in the village of Biscoitos, in 1950; Dimas Espinola immigrated with his family to the United States in the late 1960s, settling in Lowell’s “Back Central” (predominately Portuguese) neighborhood; his father, formerly a furniture maker in Biscoitos, obtained a job as a loom fixer in the Wannalancit Mills; his mother worked in a shoe factory; Mr. Espinola received his formal education in schools on Terceira and, upon arriving in Lowell, he secured a work permit and, at nearly 17 years of age, he was employed in a manufacturing job in the Paris shoe factory on Bridge Street; at the same time Mr. Dimas, a communicant at St. Anthony’s Church, began working closely with the pastor, Rev. John F. deSilva; among his activities was translating English for Portuguese members of the community, which included various issues affecting the neighborhood, including a state-proposed extension of the Lowell Connector highway that threatened many homes and businesses in the “Back Central” neighborhood; in addition to his community activism and work with the church, Mr. Dimas also became involved with the Portuguese-American Center (and its soccer team), as well as the Holy Ghost Society; he remained in the shoe industry for many years, becoming a foreman and factory manager.

Scope and Contents:

Interview conducted by consulting historian Gray Fitzsimons; a large part of this interview focuses on the organized opposition (and Mr. Espinola’s role in this opposition) to the Lowell Connector highway extension in the early 1970s and the threat of demolition of a large section of the “Back Central” neighborhood; it also contains some information on the family background of Mr. Dimas, the family’s immigrating from the Terceira to the United States, the working lives of the Espinola family in Lowell’s shoe factories in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as observations on the various businesses and cultures that would have been gravely impaired had the highway extension been constructed.

]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Terceira Island (Azores)]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Azorean Americans]]> Children of immigrants]]> Immigrant families]]> Music]]> Music--Portuguese influences]]> Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Community organization]]> Civic leaders]]> Boardinghouses]]> Veterans]]>
Biographical Note:
Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1933; parents from Graciosa, Azores, immigrated to the U.S. ca. 1926; both parents worked in textile mills in Manchester and Lowell; father a loom fixer, mother a spinner; they settled permanently in Lowell ca. 1936; members of St. Anthony Catholic Church, they had three daughters and one son, John J. who was educated in Lowell’s public schools; his father was a trombonist who played in and managed Lowell’s Portuguese Colonial Band; Mr. Leite joined the band as boy, playing the trumpet and later the trombone; after serving in the U.S. Army in post-war Europe, he returned home and matriculated at Lowell State Teachers’ College; after graduating from the college he taught in the area’s public schools, performed as a professional trombonist in well-known local bands, and formed his own band; beginning in the 1970s Mr. Leite became secretary/treasurer of the Lowell local of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), AFL-CIO, and after its merger with other locals in 1995, he was elected president of AFM Local 300.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Gray Fitzsimons. Mr. Leite discusses growing up in Manchester, NH, his parents' journey to the US, mill work, work on local farms, elementary school memories, how he fell into music, playing with the Portuguese Colonial Band, time spent in the military band, education at ULowell, Music Union, experience with multiple bands and as back-up horns.]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Manchester (N.H.)]]> Portuguese American women]]> Azorean Americans]]> Immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Szewczyk, Kimberly]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Education, Bilingual]]> Immigrant families]]> Portugal--Emigration and immigration]]> Portuguese American women]]> Teachers]]> Education]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Azorean Americans]]> Fasts and Feasts]]> Counseling in higher education]]>
In this oral history interview, she discusses her parents' immigration journey between Portugal and the United States, growing up Portuguese American in Ludlow, her family's experience with cultural assimilation, her education journey, and her time teaching bilingual education in Hudson.]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> Santos, Helena Lucas]]> Tantum, Nicole]]> English]]> Hudson (Mass.)]]> Ludlow (Mass.)]]> Alcobaça (Portugal)]]> Springfield (Mass.)]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Portuguese American women]]> Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]> Musicians]]> Music teachers]]> Veterans]]> Bars (Drinking establishments)]]> Desegregation]]> Military bands]]> Catholic Church--Dioceses]]> Azorean Americans]]> Priests]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> 1999 Oral History Interview with John Leite
2016 Oral History Interview with John Leite]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Immigrant families]]> Immigrants]]> Azorean Americans]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Catholic Church--Dioceses]]> Catholic Church--Societies, etc.]]> Priests]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Code switching (Linguistics)]]> Soccer]]> Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Lawrence (Mass.)]]> Azorean Americans]]> Brazilian Americans]]> Bullying in schools]]> Bullfights]]> Catholic Church--Dioceses]]> Catholic Church--Societies, etc.]]> Children of immigrants]]> Code switching (Linguistics)]]> Conflict of generations]]> Earthquakes]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Evening and continuation schools]]> Factories]]> Immigrants--Cultural Assimilation--United States]]> Portuguese American women]]> Priests]]> Volcanos]]>
Biographical Note:
Maria Rosa was born on the Azorean Island of Faial in 1945. She was one of four children (two brothers and a sister) and grew up in the village of Flamengos, a short distance from Horta, in a four-room house constructed of stone. Her father operated a small farm. She attended the public school in the village completing her education through grade 4. In 1957, when Maria was 12 years old, the Capelhinos volcano on Faial erupted, an event that altered the lives of many Azoreans. In the United States, Congress passed special legislation liberalizing immigration for all Azoreans.
Aided by a Portuguese family in Lowell, which sponsored Maria and her family, the Rosas departed Faial in 1960, arriving in Boston and then traveling to Lowell, where she, her parents, and her siblings settled in the city’s “Back Central” neighborhood. Maria entered the Lowell public schools, attending the Colburn School in her neighborhood. Despite the difficulties with having to learn English without any formal support by the public schools, Maria completed her studies at the Colburn and then at the Butler Junior High School. At the age of 16 she received a work permit and obtained a job at the Hathaway Shirt Company that operated a clothing manufacturing firm in the old Hamilton Mill. She met her husband, Joseph Mendonça, in Lowell and married him in 1966. Maria subsequently worked at the Raytheon Corporation and had a son and daughter.

Born in 1942 in Ponta Garça on the island of São Miguel, Joseph Mendonça moved to the United States at the age of 15, settling in Lowell with his family. His father had been born in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1905 and therefore had U.S. citizenship, despite returning to São Miguel when he was quite young. Joseph attended a public school in Ponta Garça before entering high school in Ponta Delgada. Upon moving to Lowell, he was placed in the Butler Junior High School, but when he turned 16 he received a work permit and entered the employ of Grace Shoe Company, one a several shoe manufacturers in the city. For a number of years, Joseph worked in the shoe industry, while marrying Maria and beginning a family. He eventually attained a high school degree and began work at BASF Industries. Joseph and Maria were active parishioners at St. Anthony’s Church in Lowell as well as in the Holy Ghost Society. Joseph served as president of the Holy Ghost Society in the 1970s. They lived for a number of years in Lowell’s Back Central neighborhood before purchasing a house in South Lowell.]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Faial (Azores)]]> São Miguel (Azores)]]> Community organization]]> Immigrants--Cultural Assimilation--United States]]> Azorean Americans]]>
Biographical Note:
One of four siblings, Barbara Dunsford was born in Lowell and grew up in the city’s Highlands neighborhood. Her father was a public school teacher at the city’s vocational school and her mother was a homemaker until she entered the workforce in the 1960s. Barbara’s mother, Sophie Anne (Goncarz) Dunsford (1918-2006), was born in Lowell and her parents were Polish immigrants. Her father, Harold Bevan Dunsford, Jr. (1918-1973), was also born in Lowell, but of English (Yorkshire) descent. Barbara and her siblings attended St. Casimir’s Polish National Church in the Centreville neighborhood. All four siblings were educated in Lowell’s public schools and received college degrees. Barbara studied psychology, graduating from Lowell State College in 1973. She worked for a short time at a garden center before obtaining a staff position in Lowell’s public schools. Around 1981, she was hired as director of the Portuguese American Resource Center, a program of the Lowell Union of Portuguese Americans (LUPA).
Founded in 1977 and located in Lowell’s Back Central section, which was the city’s major Portuguese neighborhood, LUPA provided social services to the area’s Portuguese residents. A large number of Portuguese immigrants, primarily from the Azores, settled in Lowell beginning in the 1960s and into the early 1980s. The Resource Center offered a number of services and programs to aid this growing immigrant population. As director, Barbara coordinated some of these activities with the International Institute of Lowell, a long-time immigrant aid organization. She also wrote a number of grants, including one that led to an extensive photographic documentation project, carried out by local professional photographer Kevin Harkins, of the Back Central neighborhood and its residents, as well as in the various factories where many Portuguese were employed. After federal funds supporting the Resource Center were expended, Barbara worked as a director of fundraising for the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She remains active today as a consultant to a number of non-profit organizations in Lowell.]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>