Biographical Note:
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1927; parents Jose and Maria A. (Francisco) Camara immigrated to the U.S. from Madeira Island, settling in Lowell ca. 1920; they worked in various textile mills in the city and the father worked, as well, in the city’s large tannery; they had two children, a son and daughter; the son, Joseph A. Camara, was educated in Lowell’s public schools and studied music, and graduated from Boston University; while a young adult pursuing his education, Mr. Camara worked in a number of Lowell factories, including the Educator Biscuit Company, American Hide and Leather, the Lowell Silk Mill, and a furniture (bridge table) manufacturer; he taught music in Lowell’s public schools at the junior high and high school levels; Mr. Camara also played soccer for local Portuguese teams and was a member and board director of the Portuguese-American Center.
Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; included is information on Lowell’s “Back Central” neighborhood, growing up there in the 1930s and 1940s, and working in a number of factory jobs in the 1940s; there is also information on the role of the Portuguese in local politics and the activities of the Portuguese Democratic Club, as well as the activities of various Portuguese social and fraternal clubs, and activities of the Holy Ghost Society, Saint Anthony Catholic Church and two of its prominent Portuguese priests (Father Grillo and Father Silva); the interview also includes information on Lowell’s Portuguese musical and marching bands.
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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.
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Born in the city of Horta on the Azorean island of Faial in 1930; Luis Gomes received his education in Horta’s schools and attended Escola Do Magistério to become a school teacher; at the age of eight he started playing the mandolin, at nine the violin, and at 10 the cornet, by age 14 he was making musical arrangements, scoring music from films at the local cinema for bands in the area to play; at the age of 16 he was invited to lead one of those bands; upon completing his schooling in Horta, Mr. Gomes taught school for three years on the island of S o Miguel before becoming a public servant for the police department and moving to Lisbon, Portugal, where in his spare time, he taught private school; at that time, Mr. Gomes also studied at the Conservatório Nacional de Música de Lisboa to further improve his skills as a professional musician, composer, conductor, and music arranger; he received a promotion and transfer to the Azorean island of Terceira to serve as a police office manager and in his free time he led two philharmonic bands and a small jazz orchestra at the American air base on Terceira.
In the late 1960s, Mr. Gomes, his wife and two daughters immigrated to the United States to the Lowell, area; initially he worked as an upholster for his brother-in-law in Wilmington, Massachusetts, and at night attended Boston State College, now part of UMass Boston, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Education; he subsequently helped start the bilingual program in Lowell’s public schools and taught in several of the city’s schools; at Lowell High School he taught Portuguese as a second language and, while, working as a teacher, Mr. Gomes founded two bands, his general business orchestra and the well-known Banda do Espírito Santo de Lowell, where he conducted, arranged, and composed music; he led this band until 2000 when he also retired from Lowell High School.
Mr. Gomes was regularly sought out by other Portuguese band leaders, throughout New England, to write and arrange music for their bands; he also performed a significant amount of volunteer work to help the Portuguese community and this ranged from taking new immigrants to hospitals and translating for them, to driving to families’ homes to discuss and encourage their children to go college; he currently volunteers as a director at the Lowell Portuguese Senior Center. In 2008, Mr. Gomes was awarded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Portuguese Heritage Award by State Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, for his “exemplary talent and civic commitment to the Portuguese American community.”
Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; focuses on Mr. Gomes’ family background, his education and career, including his teaching in Lowell’s public schools and an early bilingual program in the city’s school system; much of the interview also covers Mr. Gomes’ training and career as a musician, composer, conductor, and arranger of Portuguese music in the Azorean islands, Portugal, and New England, as well as the influences that shaped Mr. Gomes’ interpretation of traditional Portuguese music.
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Born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1942; daughter of Mary (Avila) and Manuel Silva (1895-1976); Manuel Silva (1895-1976) was born on the Azorean island of Graciosa and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents (Mary Bella (Cunha) and Andrew M. Silva) in 1906; Mary (Avila) Silva (1906-1975) was born in Lowell, but her parents were also from Graciosa; Beatrice (Silva) Hogan grew up in Lowell’s major Portuguese neighborhood, “Back Central,” and attended the city’s public schools, graduating from Lowell High School; she married Francis W. Hogan, of Irish and Portuguese ancestry, with the Portuguese side of the family also having the sir name Silva; following high school graduation she worked in a clerical job before having children and then returned to the workplace, managing the women’s department in a Sears department store.
Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; much of the focus is on family history of the Silva (Portuguese) and Hogan (Irish) families in Lowell, as well as growing up in the 1940s-1960s in Lowell’s “Back Central” neighborhood, the Portuguese businesses and culture in this locale, and in the occupations of the Silva family; there is also some information on the city’s ethnic diversity in various neighborhoods and in the public schools, and cultural differences within the Portuguese community, namely in relation to Madeirans and Azoreans. [For more on Beatrice (Silva) Hogan and these topics, see “Oral History Interview with Beatrice “Bea” E. (Silva) Hogan, September 10, 2016.”]
]]>Biographical Note:
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1942; daughter of Mary (Avila) and Manuel Silva (1895-1976); Manuel Silva (1895-1976) was born on the Azorean island of Graciosa and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents (Mary Bella (Cunha) and Andrew M. Silva) in 1906; Mary (Avila) Silva (1906-1975) was born in Lowell, but her parents were also from Graciosa; Beatrice (Silva) Hogan grew up in Lowell’s major Portuguese neighborhood, “Back Central,” and attended the city’s public schools, graduating from Lowell High School; she married Francis W. Hogan, of Irish and Portuguese ancestry, with the Portuguese side of the family also having the sir name Silva; following high school graduation she worked in a clerical job before having children and then returned to the workplace, managing the women’s department in a Sears department store.
Scope and Contents:
This is the second of a two-part interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; much of the focus is on Lowell’s “Back Central” neighborhood in the 1940s-1960s, its businesses, culture, and prominent Portuguese families, as well as religious practices in the parish of St. Anthony Catholic Church, and the related religious societies; the city’s ethnic diversity in the post-World War II period; and cultural differences within the Portuguese community, namely in relation to Madeirans and Azoreans; and marriage across ethnic lines. [For more from Beatrice (Silva) Hogan on other topics related to Lowell’s Portuguese community, see “Oral History Interview with Beatrice “Bea” E. (Silva) Hogan, August 6, 2016.”]
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Born on the Azorean island of São Miguel in 1953; Ms. Iria’s mother was a homemaker; her father worked as a chauffeur; similar to many children of this period, Ms. Iria attended public school through the fourth grade; eventually she married and had two children while living on São Miguel; in 1980 she, her husband, and two children immigrated to the United States, settling initially in New Bedford, Massachusetts; at the suggestion of her husband’s brother, who lived in Lowell and worked in a higher-paying electronics job, she and her family moved there; for a short time Ms. Iria commuted to Lawrence, Massachusetts, for a job in a shoe factory; however, upon obtaining a job in the Prince Pasta factory, which was located in South Lowell and had nearly 400 workers, the majority being Portuguese; she began working as a machine operator close to her home in the city’s “Back Central” neighborhood; owned by the Pellegrino family, Prince Pasta had a company union; in 1995 a group of Prince Pasta workers, including Ms. Iria, campaigned to affiliate with United Electrical Workers Machine of Workers of America (UE) and, in an intensely fought union election, the workers voted in favor of the UE; Iria was then elected chief steward; two years later the Pellegrino’s sold the company to the Ohio-based Borden Corporation; soon thereafter Borden cut a number of employee benefits and instituted a 12-hour work day; despite union concessions Borden suddenly closed the Lowell factory; Ms. Iria joined with other workers, as well as city and elected officials in an attempt to save the plant, but to no avail; she subsequently worked as an organizer for the UE, before returning to a job as a machine operator at a beverage company; she remains involved in community work.
Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; included is information on Ms. Iria’s family on São Miguel, prior to her immigration to the United States; much of the interview covers her working career in factories, initially in New Bedford and Lawrence, and then Lowell; she discusses in some detail her experiences at the Prince Pasta factory, the nature of the work and the division of jobs by gender and nationality, the change from a family-owned business to a corporate-controlled manufacturing facility, as well as the change from a company union to one affiliated with the United Electrical Workers Machine of America; her role as a union organizer and shop steward is discussed, as well as her attempts, along with coworkers, to keep the plant open following the Borden Corporation’s sudden decision to shut it down; she also discusses the tensions within her family stemming from the demanding roles as mother, wife, homemaker, worker, and union activist.]]>