Description:

Marta R. Alcon was born in Cuba in 1931. She grew up in a rural area. At the age of nineteen, she moved to the United States with her husband, while the rest of her family stayed in Cuba. After living in New York, she and her husband settled in Hoboken, where she has lived since then. She raised her four children speaking Spanish as well as English. In the interview, she describes the demographics of Hoboken in the early 1950s and the availability of factory work and traces changes in the community in terms of demographic shifts and economic development. She discusses the impact of the Cuban revolution in 1959 on her family members in Cuba. She spent her career as a seamstress and worked other various jobs. In the interview, she also discusses the impact of 9/11 on Hoboken. This oral history interview was conducted as a part of the Latino New Jersey History Project, directed by Dr. Lilia Fernandez.

Photo: (left to right) Nicholas Garita, the interviewer, with Marta Alcon.