Catalog ID:
ORH-001-0004
Creator:
McDowell, Carleen
Archives Field 21:
AUDIO: Click to Play
Scope & Content:
Oral history interview with Carleen McDowell
Carleen McDowell is a life-long resident of Bridgeport. She describes her early life in Marina Village in the City's South End, where she was fascinated by the great mix of ethnicities, cultures and religion. She and her large family shared close living quarters there and McDowell was charged with taking care of her younger siblings and keeping the apartment clean. Eventually, her mother took the family to the Catholic Church and Carleen was eventually married at Sacred Heart Church (later demolished) in the South End.
McDowell has worked many jobs from packing lunches for factory workers to being a nurse's aid and baby sitter. She worked for 25 years at Westinghouse where she excelled and eventually became part of the shipping department, earning overtime by working a 7 day work week.
Carleen discusses many aspects of life in the 1940s and 1950s such as housing discrimination and the Civil Rights Movement. She references the academic and professional accomplishments of family members. During her life in Bridgeport, McDowell has attended many churches, including the LDS church, Mennonite, Baptist, Jehovah's Witness. She now only attends a weekly meeting with "Sisters by the Sea" in Seaside Park. She believes in the power of prayer.
PLEASE NOTE: the sound on this recording is very uneven. Attempts have been made to amplify McDowell's voice.
Carleen McDowell is a life-long resident of Bridgeport. She describes her early life in Marina Village in the City's South End, where she was fascinated by the great mix of ethnicities, cultures and religion. She and her large family shared close living quarters there and McDowell was charged with taking care of her younger siblings and keeping the apartment clean. Eventually, her mother took the family to the Catholic Church and Carleen was eventually married at Sacred Heart Church (later demolished) in the South End.
McDowell has worked many jobs from packing lunches for factory workers to being a nurse's aid and baby sitter. She worked for 25 years at Westinghouse where she excelled and eventually became part of the shipping department, earning overtime by working a 7 day work week.
Carleen discusses many aspects of life in the 1940s and 1950s such as housing discrimination and the Civil Rights Movement. She references the academic and professional accomplishments of family members. During her life in Bridgeport, McDowell has attended many churches, including the LDS church, Mennonite, Baptist, Jehovah's Witness. She now only attends a weekly meeting with "Sisters by the Sea" in Seaside Park. She believes in the power of prayer.
PLEASE NOTE: the sound on this recording is very uneven. Attempts have been made to amplify McDowell's voice.
Interviewer:
Lazar, Beth
Dates of Creation:
2022-08-22
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