Oral history interview with Kathy, 1980

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Name: Kathy (Interviewee); Courtwright, David T., 1952- (Interviewer); Joseph, Herman, 1931- (Interviewer)
Title: Oral history interview with Kathy, 1980
Other Titles: Reminiscences of Kathy, 1980; Oral history of Kathy, 1980
Abstract: In this interview, Kathy discusses her life in Virginia and New York City, with a special focus on her drug use. She describes her career in domestic work and shirt pressing at a laundry and dry cleaning business in Manhattan called Victor's as well as Quartermaster Laundry on Fort Eustis in Virginia. She explains how she was able to meet a daily, personal quota of one thousand shirts, and describe s how her work ethic made her a valuable employee. She describes how she was first introduced to morphine in 1936 through a friend who regularly obtained a doctor's prescription. She also explains how soon after she began using morphine, the police cracked down on doctors who prescribed the drug, and she was no longer able to acquire morphine. She discusses establishments which she calls "coke joint" that she frequented with her boyfriend in the late 1930s. Kathy touches on her transition from morphine to heroin. She compares the price of heroin in New York City to the price of heroin in her hometown in Virginia, which she would visit once a year. She discusses the several times she self-detoxed from heroin over the years. She also describes the period of her life she spent with her husband from 1943 when they got married to 1968 when they separated. She explains that he was a car thief and was intermittently incarcerated in federal prison, and discusses the ways she would support herself when he was in prison, including pickpocketing
Collection Name: Addicts Who Survived oral history collection
Subjects: Drug addicts--United States; Drug traffic--History--20th century.--United States; Heroin abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Morphine abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Laundry workers; Crime--New York (State); Kathy
Format: oral histories
Genre: Interviews
Date: 1980

Physical Description: 102 pages
Note (Biographical): Kathy was born on April 9, 1916 in Mulberry Island, Virginia. She was the second born of three siblings. When she was seven years of age, Mulberry Island was purchased by the government as the site for Fort Eustis, and her family relocated to Hampton, Virginia. Kathy stopped attending school in seventh grade, and when she was thirteen years of age, went to live with her cousin in Jersey City, New Jersey. She first got a job cleaning houses, and in 1933 began working for a family as a live-in maid. In 1935, the family that employed her moved to California, so Kathy moved to New York City and got a job pressing shirts at a Chinese Laundry establishment called Victor's. She first began using morphine in 1936 through a friend who had a prescription for the drug. After a year of using morphine, Kathy transitioned to using heroin and quickly became addicted. She got married in 1943. She joined the methadone program in 1968, and weaned off methadone completely by 1980. Kathy was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project. In the book, Kathy was referred to by the pseudonym "Janet"
Note: Interviewed by David Courtwright and Herman Joseph on July 3, 1980
Note (Provenance): David Courtwright, Herman Joseph, and Don Des Jarlais, Gift, 1988
Language: English
Library Location: Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Catalog Record: 11868569
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-haac-3f29
Related URLs: Available digital content for this interview.