Catalog ID:
ORH-006-0002
Creator:
Correa, Roda J.; Garcia, Ana L.; Martinez, Eddie
Archives Field 21:
AUDIO Click to Play
Scope & Content:
Rosa J. Correa, Ana L. Garcia and Eddie Martinez Interview
In this slightly-unconventional oral history interview, conducted on June 22, 2023, Rosa J. Correa, her sister Ana L. Garcia, and friend and community leader Eddie Martinez sat down with me (Amanda Rivera) at Rosa's house for an oral history/roundtable discussion of Rosa's activism within the city of Bridgeport. Ana provided confirmation of certain facts, and also showed us a scrapbook she made of collections of articles, photos, and other artifacts commemorating Rosa's activism. Eddie, who met Rosa through an interview through his own podcast, Tranzcendant Outlook, likewise asked questions during the discussion.
Rosa was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1949, one of three siblings, and lived in the towns of Peñuelas and Guaynilla before moving stateside. Her father first migrated to Florida and worked his way "up the migrant stream," as Rosa puts it, being placed to work in farms throughout the country, such as in Delaware and Buffalo, New York. Eventually, an uncle living and working in Bridgeport in construction (coincidentally, her husband Eddie's uncle, who married Rosa's aunt) encouraged Rosa's father to move there, so he sent for Rosa, her mother, her sister and brother, and the family moved officially to Bridgeport n March 25, 1957 (a date she recalled because it coincided with the Feast of Incarnation, an important celebration in the Catholic faith). Rosa's father died a year later in 1958, at the age of 41.
Rosa speaks a bit about her political advocacy in Bridgeport, which emerged from the guidance of Father Victor Torres-Friás, the first ordained Latinx priest in New England and a Puerto Rican himself, who became a de facto father figure after her father's premature death.
The majority of the oral history interview centered around Rosa's activism at St. Mary's Church, and its importance to the growing Puerto Rican community of the East Side in the 1970s. After Father Torres left for a position in Puerto Rico in 1973, the new Irish-American priest Peter Cullen wanted to merge St. Mary's with another local parish, Holy Rosary, to preserve funding and avoid making repairs on St. Mary's. Such a merger would've destroyed the predominantly Puerto Rican St. Mary's community, which had established businesses and homes around the church during Father Torres's tenure in the face of exclusion from Irish and Italian parishioners. Rosa discusses her fight against the parish board of St. Mary's, which ultimately culminated in the cancellation of the merger and the pushing out of Rosa for having caused too much "trouble" with the church's hierarchy. She ends with hope that the newer generations can pick up where her story leaves off, continuing onward towards speaking truth to power.
In this slightly-unconventional oral history interview, conducted on June 22, 2023, Rosa J. Correa, her sister Ana L. Garcia, and friend and community leader Eddie Martinez sat down with me (Amanda Rivera) at Rosa's house for an oral history/roundtable discussion of Rosa's activism within the city of Bridgeport. Ana provided confirmation of certain facts, and also showed us a scrapbook she made of collections of articles, photos, and other artifacts commemorating Rosa's activism. Eddie, who met Rosa through an interview through his own podcast, Tranzcendant Outlook, likewise asked questions during the discussion.
Rosa was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1949, one of three siblings, and lived in the towns of Peñuelas and Guaynilla before moving stateside. Her father first migrated to Florida and worked his way "up the migrant stream," as Rosa puts it, being placed to work in farms throughout the country, such as in Delaware and Buffalo, New York. Eventually, an uncle living and working in Bridgeport in construction (coincidentally, her husband Eddie's uncle, who married Rosa's aunt) encouraged Rosa's father to move there, so he sent for Rosa, her mother, her sister and brother, and the family moved officially to Bridgeport n March 25, 1957 (a date she recalled because it coincided with the Feast of Incarnation, an important celebration in the Catholic faith). Rosa's father died a year later in 1958, at the age of 41.
Rosa speaks a bit about her political advocacy in Bridgeport, which emerged from the guidance of Father Victor Torres-Friás, the first ordained Latinx priest in New England and a Puerto Rican himself, who became a de facto father figure after her father's premature death.
The majority of the oral history interview centered around Rosa's activism at St. Mary's Church, and its importance to the growing Puerto Rican community of the East Side in the 1970s. After Father Torres left for a position in Puerto Rico in 1973, the new Irish-American priest Peter Cullen wanted to merge St. Mary's with another local parish, Holy Rosary, to preserve funding and avoid making repairs on St. Mary's. Such a merger would've destroyed the predominantly Puerto Rican St. Mary's community, which had established businesses and homes around the church during Father Torres's tenure in the face of exclusion from Irish and Italian parishioners. Rosa discusses her fight against the parish board of St. Mary's, which ultimately culminated in the cancellation of the merger and the pushing out of Rosa for having caused too much "trouble" with the church's hierarchy. She ends with hope that the newer generations can pick up where her story leaves off, continuing onward towards speaking truth to power.
Interviewer:
Interviewed by Amanda Rivera
Dates of Creation:
2023-06-22
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