In Their Own Words: Citizenship Exam

Michelina Frascone
470 Hopkins, 1932-1956
Michelina moved into 470 Hopkins St. in 1932, shortly after she and her mother arrived in America from Italy. Michelina went on to marry and raise her family in the house until 1956, when they moved to Hazel Park.

Audio Transcript

"My papa could understand [English] pretty good. Mama, I kind of tried to teach her when I was trying to learn myself.

"A lot of Italian people got their citizenship papers and I took them. I taught them how to answer the questions and everything. It was all in English. It was kind of scary, but when I went with them, I think they had a lot of confidence.

"They didn’t even know how to write in Italian. They never went to school. I’d try to teach them how to write their names."