For the next twenty minutes Viola, with great reticence, and I shared our stories.
With great hope, Viola, her husband, and two children migrated to Pittsburgh–the Promised Land–in the middle fifties. Immediately, her husband found a job in the J&L Steel Mill. Settling in the lower hill, in spite of an inadequate educational system and occasional acts of prejudice, life was better than Marianne, Arkansas. But, since her husband had a low-skill job, and in spite of the fact that he belonged to the union, J&L laid off Viola’s husband in a late sixties’ recession. Later, when the Civic Arena was built, they were forced to move to public housing in the East End, Garfield section of Pittsburgh. Then her husband disappeared. The child with her was from a new boy friend.
(more…)