Mrs. Blake: a voice from the North End (video in two parts, with transcript): interview with Mrs. Isabel Blake of Hartford
Mrs. Isabel Blake sits on a porch, twirling a pen in her hand, as she is interviewed. Blake discusses the significance of education, the problems... Show moreMrs. Isabel Blake sits on a porch, twirling a pen in her hand, as she is interviewed. Blake discusses the significance of education, the problems with the welfare system, and issues of race from her perspective. Mrs. Blake was born on North Front Street in Hartford to her mother from Fort Greene, Georgia. Although her mother could not read or write, she demanded that each one of her children became educated. Mrs. Blake attended Arsenal, Northeast, and Weaver schools. She talks about two teachers that made a positive impact on her education, including Miss O’Hara in the fourth grade and Miss Fitzgerald. She remembers learning in school that respect gets respect, on top of learning this at home. Blake states that although she hates whites, she doesn’t care what color a teachers is as long as they care for each child and wants them to learn. Blake suggests that because there are Spanish-speaking children, primarily from Puerto Rico, that there should be more Puerto Rican representation in the school, black representation for black children, as well as white representation for white children in the schools. Of her ten living children and seven grandchildren, Blake hopes that each one of them becomes college-educated. Her eldest, Paula, graduated in June from Saint Joseph’s and will now be off to medical school in September at the University of Connecticut. Another one of her girls is going to start summer school for Business Administration at the University of Connecticut. Blake discusses the difficulties one of her daughters is facing in the school, where Blake believes her attitude is getting in the way of her producing work. Blake discusses the importance of young people staying motivated to do well in school even if there are white teachers who may come off as racist, because whether or not she does well in school will reflect on her and not the teacher. As a welfare rights activist in Hartford, Blake discusses problems in the welfare system, which she feels treats mothers like “some kind of animal.” She describes a cycle of dependence on insufficient funds and legislation that doesn’t take into account the realities of low-income families, which leads to the removal of children from homes and into foster care. Blake states that “white people only see what they want to see and understand what they want to understand.” Blake brings up the word “equality” as the “newest thing” people seem to be fighting for, because “we haven’t had any” and that it will take a lot of work by a lot of people in order to accomplish it. Show less
