Original abstract (1976): Mr. Francisco's father was a Pentecostal minister and a minor government official in the Dominican Republic. The family moved around the Dominican Republic because the father was often transferred. When Trujillo was overthrown in 1964, Mr. Francisco's father lost his job, and a short while later, unable to provide adequately for his family and fearful of political punishment by the new regime, he left for New York where relatives were already living. The father became a barber in the Bronx and sent money back to the family at home. Three years later the family came to America, lived in various sections of the Bronx for the next two years and finally decided that New York was intolerable. The children and mother moved t o Providence while the father remained in New York and occasionally commuted to Rhode Island to visit his family. Two years later, the father moved to Providence and became a minister in a Pentecostal Church.
Mr. Francisco now twenty-four years old and a student at Rhode Island College graphically described: his life in the Dominican Republic, the impact of his father's three year absence, his ideas about America, the shock of his arrival in this country, adjustment problems in New York, the family's decision to come to Rhode Island and his perception of and involvement in the Latin American community here .
This interview with Juan Francisco was conducted on April 22, 1976 by Joseph Conforti. Topics include childhood in Dominican Republic, education, religion, move to the Bronx (N.Y.), move from the Bronx to Providence (R.I.), and the role of religion in forming community. In addition to the audio recording of the interview, there is a typed summary and abstract.