Oral history interview with Stella, 1981

Biographical Note

Stella was born on December 3, 1918 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. Stella's father passed away when she was an infant, and as a result, she spent her childhood, from age three to fifteen, in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, along with her two older siblings. Stella graduated from Julia Richmond High School, and began working in a beauty shop in downtown Manhattan. At eighteen years of age, she began experimenting with marijuana, Tuinals, and heroin, and became addicted. After three weeks of using heroin, she committed herself to the Women's House of Detention for thirty days in order to detox. After she was released, she resumed using drugs. She then began engaging in sex work in order to finance her addiction. In the 1940s, she got married, and stopped doing sex work. Her husband worked with Murder Incorporated, and provided her with a steady supply of drugs. In 1965, her husband passed away, and she resumed sex work until 1969, when she joined the methadone program. Stella 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, Stella discusses her life in New York City, with a focus on her drug use. She describes living in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum from the age of three to fifteen. She discusses being introduced to marijuana, Tuinals, and heroin at the age of eighteen through her coworkers and clients at the beauty shop where she worked in downtown Manhattan. She explains how she became involved in sex work in order to finance her addiction. She describes using Dilaudid during World War II, when there was a shortage of heroin. She reviews her arrest history, and describes her experience being incarcerated at the Women's House of Detention. She discusses her attempts to detox from drugs at various hospitals throughout her three decade long addiction. Facilities included: Morrisania Hospital, Bellevue Hospital, Lexington Kentucky Hospital, and the Morris J. Bernstein Institute. She explains her struggle with alcoholism and liver disease. She delves into her experience joining the methadone program, and the challenges being a methadone patient has posed to her employment options

Subjects

• Drug abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Drugs--Prescribing.
• Heroin abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Imprisonment--United States.
• Interviews.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Methadone maintenance--United States--History--20th century.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Prostitution--United States--History--20th century.
• Stella--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright