Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Rita, 1981Biographical NoteRita was born on April 22, 1922 in Manhattan, New York. She was the third born of four children in her family. Her father was a taxi driver, and her mother was a sex worker. Her two older brothers spent much of their childhoods at the Mount Loretto Orphanage. Her family moved often throughout her childhood. Rita's formal education ended in the seventh grade, when she was sent to Rockland State Hospital, in Orangeburg, New York for psychiatric help. After being released from the hospital at the age of fifteen, Rita began doing domestic work. From the age of thirteen to thirty-five, Rita had an alcohol addiction. At the age of twenty, she gave birth to a son. In her thirties she began dating a man who financially supported her business endeavors. With his help, she ran a private taxi company, then a restaurant, and finally a small lunchonette. At forty-nine years old, she was forced to close the luncheonette at which point she went to work as the manager of a diner. It was around this time that she began to use heroin. After a few months, the diner closed, and she began to engage in sex work. In 1970, she joined the Frances Delafield Hospital methadone program. In 1973, she detoxed from methadone at Lincoln Detox. In 1981, she began using heroin again, and shortly after joined another methadone program
Scope and ContentsIn this interview, Rita discusses her life in New York City, with a focus on her drug use. She describes many facets of her upbringing including her family's frequent moves, the absence of her mother, and her brothers staying at the Mount Loretto orphanage. She analyzes how these and other childhood experiences contributed to her addiction. She discusses being sent to Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York from the age of thirteen to fifteen for psychiatric help. She discusses her struggle with alcoholism from age thirteen to thirty-five. Rita discusses how she owned and operated several businesses in her adult life, including a private taxi company, a restaurant, and a lunchonette. She describes her struggles with her weight, and being incentivized to use heroin for the first time at forty-nine years of age by the prospect of weight loss. She discusses participating in sex work. She describes detoxing several times at Interfaith Hospital, Jacobi Hospital, and Morris J. Bernstein Institute. She discusses briefly selling drugs, and describes her clientele, suppliers, and method of distribution. She describes her experience attending the Frances Delafield Hospital methadone program and Lincoln Detox. She describes being drug-free from 1973 to 1981, during which time she had consistent and vivid dreams about using heroin. She discusses her relapse in 1981. She discusses the change in quality and price of heroin between the 1960s and the 1980s. Rita also describes using sleeping pills, Dilaudid, and Dolophines in the 1960s when heroin was not readily available
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by David Courtwright
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