Interview with Mrs. James Francis Almeida, Jr. Interviewer: JR Joyce Rodrigues. Date of Interview: June 10, She graduated in 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 s and s. By the late s and throughout the s, 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:. All [the] shops are gone. Like the textile decline in the s, Fall River in the last quarter of 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 and respectively. Delores was brought up on a farm. The family eventually moved to Fall River. Delores met and married James Francis Almeida, Jr. The couple had three children. 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, So we are going to get started. JR: Okay, Delores, I heard a lot about youโฆ. Tell me about your family; tell me about your parents and grandparents.
