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Una conversacion (video in two parts, in Spanish, with English subtitles)

Rights
Copyright restrictions may apply to the use of this image. For more information or to obtain a photographic reproduction of this image, contact the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library.
Title
Una conversacion (video in two parts, in Spanish, with English subtitles)
Creator
Biggs, Julian (Creator)
Date
1969
Subject
Housing
Description
Victor Blanco is interviewed by Jose Cruz, a representative of an agency located in the Clay Hill neighborhood, about employment and quality of life issues as an educated man and Spanish teacher coming from Puerto Rico and trying to find employment. Blanco talks about his experience of living in Hartford for three weeks. He had a BA in Spanish with a minor in Education from the University of Puerto Rico and taught in his town, Santa Isabel, for six years. In coming to Hartford for better opportunities and to be closer to family living in the United States, he was met with the harder realities that it was difficult to find a job in his profession, even as he knew English pretty well. He acknowledges that if it is difficult for him to find a job and sustain a life in Hartford although he is prepared to do so, he can only imagine how difficult it would be for someone who doesn’t have a college education and speaks little or no English. He feels he is lucky to be able to stay with his brother while he searches for work; he finds it difficult to find a home because he is not making any income yet. When he visits friends, he sees that their living conditions were worse than what he had seen in Puerto Rico, including rooms without ventilation, bathrooms and kitchens in terrible condition and higher rents for less space. Cruz describes the relationship between landlords and the city of Hartford. The city will identify an area where they will be tearing down the buildings and will pay the landlord for the properties that will be torn down.Therefore the landlords will not put money into fixing these properties, even whle people are currently living in them. Blanco also talks about a divide between the educated middle class and less educated lower class Puerto Ricans in Hartford and says this is different than the attitude of professionals in Puerto Rico towards the lower class community.
Publisher
Ownership Statement: Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library
Format
color
Format
video/mov
Relation
Source Note: Butch Lewis Collection
Coverage
Hartford (Conn.)
Description
This is one of a number of 1969 documentary-style films in the collection of Hartford Black Panther Party co-founder, Butch Lewis. The films were directed and filmed by Canadian filmmaker Julian Biggs and assistant Baylis Glascock. . They document various Hartford black and Puerto Rican community leaders and communities as well as white governmental and business leaders discussing issues facing poor communities in the City of Hartford. Issues include urban renewal, housing, employment, education, and governmental representation.
Creator
Glascock, Baylis (Creator)
Subject
Job hunting
Subject
Puerto Ricans
Subject
Social service
Subject
Teachers
Identifier
50002:5549
Identifier
local: hpl_hhc_bl_una-conversacion
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11134/50002:5549
Type
MovingImage
Type
video recordings

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