Ana Rosales

Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Ana Rosales

Born in Juigalpa, Nicaragua, Ana Rosales first came to Brooklyn in 1974 when her first husband-a military officer-was sent by the Somoza government to study at Pratt Institute. She returned to Nicaragua in 1978, on the eve of the Sandinista revolution. Her husband was in the interior fighting the guerrillas when Rosales decided to leave the country; afraid of what the revolutionaries might do to the wife of an Army officer. After many immigration and travel hurdles she arrived in Miami, where she was assisted by the Red Cross and Miami Cuban Americans. Rosales then came to the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn with her three small children and stayed with friends. By 1989 she remarried, and was living with her family in a church-owned building near the Church of the Transfiguration in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

In the interview, Ana Rosales recalls the major biographical details of her life. She remembers her youth in Nicaragua, as well as her challenging attempts to flee the country during wartime. Her path included being stuck in Managua, crossing into Honduras, returning to Managua, flying out of El Salvador, and entering the United States. Rosales recounts her family's adapting to the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. In desperate financial straits, she was given the address of the Church of the Transfiguration by a social worker. She tells of her meeting with Sister Peggy Walsh and other church people, who helped her by providing an apartment in "Los Sures'' within the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and encouraged her to find work. Rosales speaks about working in a clothing factory, and attending Boricua College to study English. She also describes getting a position as a teacher's aide at a day care center. Interview in Spanish conducted by Morton Marks.

Brooklyn Historical Society initiated the Hispanic Communities Documentation Project in 1988. Over fifty interviews were conducted to document the experiences of Brooklyn residents who arrived from Puerto Rico, Panama, Ecuador, and several other Central and South American nations in the latter half of the twentieth century. This collection includes recordings and transcripts of interviews conducted between 1988 and 1989. The oral histories often contain descriptions of immigration, living arrangements, neighborhood demographics, discrimination, employment, community development, and political leadership. Also included are photographs and printed ephemera.

Citation

Rosales, Ana, Oral history interview conducted by Morton Marks, March 16, 1989, Hispanic Communities Documentation Project records and oral histories, 1989.004.26; Brooklyn Historical Society.