Catherine Remembers Mother Learning English (Transcript)
Interviewee: Catherine Gaetano Gallippi
Date of Birth: February 17, 1914
Date of Interview: December 12, 1990
Interviewer: Paul E. Sigrist, Jr.
Immigrated from Italy at Age 8 in 1922
Ellis Island Collection: EI-17
Gallippi (Her Mother Learns English):
Sigrist: Did your mother ever learn English?
GALLI Gallippi: Not fully. She tried very hard. She could write her name, she could tell time, money, everything. She knew everything about that, but she never spoke fluently...I do remember that they were trying to get a lot of these women at that time to take classes but they said, "We're too busy with the children. We just can't take time." So this is why a lot of people did not learn.
