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Letwin, Bessie (audio interview #3 of 4)

INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the third of four interviews with Bessie Letwin conducted in her home in Westwood for as part of a student project in a women's oral history class at CSULB. Although Letwin was frank and honest, her unprepossessing manner meant that she did not speak at length on any particular subject. Letwin and the interviewer had known eachother for several years and there references to close friends and relatives are not fully explained. Note: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent. TOPICS - grocery store business; living conditions; childcare; night school; economic support of mother and sister in Latvia; immigration quotas; infant care and child rearing; children's education; socioeconomic status; intellectual interests; family life; family relationships; living arrangements; husband's work history; assimilation; social life; demographics of her customers; meal preparation and storage; life during the Depression; abortions; and neighborhood race relations;son's school experiences in Black school; neighborhood race relations; family history; life during the Depression; voting; garment work; wages and hours; clothing styles; living conditions; visits to USSR; family Holocaust victims; CP activities; effect of CP membership on her business; 1975-10