Oral history interview with H. G., 1980

Biographical Note

H.G. was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1914. He was the third oldest of four siblings. When H.G. was three years old, his father was in a fatal accident at a cotton mill. Three years later, his mother and oldest brother moved to Philadelphia, while he and his next youngest sister went to live with an aunt in Miami, Florida. H.G. went to school in Miami through the eighth grade. Once he stopped attending school, his aunt and uncle kicked him out of the house. He stayed in Miami and worked as a coach attendant on the Seaboard Railroad. In 1939, he moved to New York City, and continued to work on the railroad. He first started sniffing heroin and cocaine in 1945. A year later he transitioned to intravenous intake of heroin and cocaine (speedball). Around 1947, he left his job at the railroad and began selling heroin. He was incarcerated for heroin related charges twice: once at Rikers Island in 1948, and once at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 1951. H.G. joined a methadone program in 1967. He got married in 1968. H. G. was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project

Scope and Contents

In this interview, H.G. discusses his life in Miami and New York City, with special attention towards his drug use and trafficking. He describes his experience working as a coach attendant on the Seaboard Railroad. He explains how he was first introduced to heroin by a friend when he was thirty-one years old. He describes how he fell ill after three months of sniffing heroin, and went to the doctor who told him that he was addicted. He describes his transition from nasal to intravenous intake of heroin and cocaine. He compares the conditions and relative availability of drugs in the two jails he was incarcerated at, Rikers Island and Sing Sing Correctional Facility. He compares the quality and price of heroin between the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. H.G. also describes how in the late 1940s and 1950s, many high-level suppliers were Italian and Puerto Rican. He discusses how his clientele changed between when he was dealing out of his apartment in the 1940s versus when he was dealing on the street in the 1960s. He compares his observations of the drug scene in New York in the height of his usage and the 1980s

Subjects

• Courtwright, David T., 1952- interviewer.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Drug dealers--United States.
• Drug traffic--United States--History--20th century.
• G., H.--Interviews.
• Heroin abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Imprisonment--United States.
• Interviews.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Oral histories (literary works)

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright