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Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.

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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.

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Betty Villa

Oral history interview conducted by Jaime Barreto

September 11, 1974

Call number: 1976.001.067

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Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Betty Villa

Born in 1922, Betty Villa (one of the few narrators in this collection to be a borough native) was raised in the Downtown section of Brooklyn. She later lived between the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant, before relocating to Carolina, Puerto Rico in the 1960s. While growing up in the 1920s and 1930s she experienced racial discrimination firsthand, both from individuals and institutions. Despite this, she made friends of all ethnic stripes - even once marching in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade - and attended Brooklyn College before joining the workforce. She was the mother of three children, as well as an activist in civic, political, and mutual aid organizations throughout her life.

In the interview, Betty Villa describes the Downtown Brooklyn area of the 1920 and 1930s. She gives firsthand information on figures such as Sister Carmelita Bonilla, Celia Vice, Luis Hernández, and Antonia Denis, as well as an account of Reverend W.E. Davenport (a Brooklyn philanthropist who was somewhat active in the Eugenics movement). She refers to the first church serving Spanish-speaking Catholics in Brooklyn, Our Lady of Pilar. Villa recalls both her encounters with racism, as well as friendships across ethnic and racial lines. Villa also discusses Puerto Rican identity, politics, and society, as well as the experience of reverse migration to Puerto Rico from New York. Interview conducted by Jaime Barreto.

This collection includes recordings and transcripts of oral histories narrated by those in the Puerto Rican community of Brooklyn who arrived between 1917 and 1940. The Long Island Historical Society initiated the Puerto Rican Oral History Project in 1973, conducting over eighty interviews between 1973 and 1975. The oral histories often contain descriptions of immigration, living arrangements, neighborhood ethnicities, discrimination, employment, community development and political leadership. Also included are newspaper clippings, brochures, booklets about Brooklyn's Puerto Rican community, and administrative information on how the project was developed, carried out, and evaluated.

Citation

Villa, Betty, Oral history interview conducted by Jaime Barreto, September 11, 1974, Puerto Rican Oral History Project records, 1976.001.067; Brooklyn Historical Society.

People

  • Bonilla, Carmelita
  • Vice, Celia Maria
  • Villa, Betty

Topics

  • Crime
  • Education
  • Emigration and immigration
  • Ethnic identity
  • Ethnic neighborhoods
  • Politics and government
  • Puerto Ricans
  • Segregation

Places

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • Puerto Rico

Finding Aid

Puerto Rican Oral History Project records
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