Oral History Interview with Carmela Zuza: Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids

Scope and Contents

In her interview, Carmela Zuza (1924- ) discusses her experience growing up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood in Brooklyn. She describes in detail the garden that her parents kept, the beer and wine her parents made, and other local foods. She expresses the pride she felt doing her work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and seeing the christening of the USS Missouri battle ship. Zuza also talks about transportation to and from work, security at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, discrimination, uniforms and clothing for women, gender relations, social activities and dating. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan.

Biographical / Historical

Carmela Celardo Zuza (1924- ) grew up in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with eight siblings. Her parents moved to the United States from Naples, Italy after they were married. Carmela worked in small factory jobs before she began working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1942 as an arc welder.

Conditions Governing Access

This interview can be accessed onsite at Brooklyn Historical Society's Othmer Library and online at the Oral History Portal.

Subjects

Organizations

New York Naval Shipyard; Missouri (Battleship : BB 63); Franklin (Aircraft carrier)

Topics

Places

Crown Heights (New York, N.Y.); Coney Island (New York, N.Y.); Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); Dean Street (New York, N.Y.); Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.); Washington Avenue (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.); Sands Street (New York, N.Y.)

Oral History Interview with Carmela Zuza, July 3, 2008, inclusive