Kitty's Story

This episode features excerpts from an interview with Kitty Rapoli Brown, given by Christine Hewitt. Brown was born in 1907 of Hungarian immigrants. Her father worked at the National Conduit and Cable Mill for 35 years, in 12-hour shifts, five-and-a-half days a week. Her mother worked as a laundress and a cleaning maid. They heated their home with leftover wood and bought their flour and onions in large sacks; they also went to the dance hall, played in marching bands, and sat around for long storytelling sessions. As Brown recalls, “We had no poor people in Hastings then. We were all the same.”

Beth McDonald Wyman reads Brown’s account and Village Historian of Hastings-on-Hudson, Sue Smith, provides context on immigrant history.