Saratoga News

Photograph courtesy of Heyday Books, Berkeley

Women carry baskets of bread and flowers on their heads in a 'festa' parade in San Jose in 1992.

Portuguese women have their say

By Shelley P. Ash

No television, inside toilets or electric razors. No disposable diapers, dishwashers or microwave ovens. No linoleum floors, paved roads or car for every adult in the household. Take a moment to ponder this existence. Then add to the picture raising a family and maintaining a household while living thousands of miles from your family, knowing only a few words of English, working on a farm from sunrise to sunset, and having to walk (no matter the weather) several miles to and from town.

Think hard about this. It's difficult to imagine, isn't it? Seriously, unless you're a first-generation immigrant to America at the turn of the century (or the son or daughter thereof), it's nearly impossible. But a new book, Stories Grandma Never Told: Portuguese Women in California (Heydey Books, $17.50) by former Saratoga News editor Sue Fagalde Lick, hopes to bridge this information gap.

Written in a conversational tone, the book is a compilation of stories from some 50 women, with anecdotes sprinkled in from at least a dozen more. With honesty, compassion and humor, we hear from the first generation, women born in Portugal, through fourth-generation great-granddaughters. Lick shares her personal perspectives and Portuguese ancestry as well as research from her first book, The Iberian Americans (Chelsea House, 1990).

With topics such as the Portuguese work ethic, male dominance, Catholic faith, cultural traditions and Portuguese pride, Stories Grandma Never Told educates younger generations and provides a forum for elders to share histories. While there are other books that depict early Portuguese life in America, this volume is written by a Portuguese woman about Portuguese women's experiences--with a focus on California.

"This book gives a good picture of life as it was in the old country," says Sylvia Carroll, 56, who can trace her roots to São Jorge on her mother's side. "And it leaves you understanding the incredible strength of the Portuguese people," she says, adding that they were whalers and fishermen at home, but when they settled in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Monterey counties, many stayed with fishing while others went into agriculture or dairy farming.

Today, many Portuguese still run dairy farms. Others work in construction, sheet rock, concrete, landscaping, gardening and carpentry, according to Carroll, a regular volunteer at the American Youth Hostel in Saratoga who is active in the Portuguese Heritage Society. She says Portuguese personality traits--hard-working, honest, stubborn and thrifty-have served them well in this state, where there are more than two million residents of Portuguese descent.

"Sue did a good job memorializing us," says Mary Cabral O'Reilly, 54, whose father and maternal grandparents were born in São Miguel. "I was particularly struck by the commonality between me and other Portuguese women. Before I read the book I thought I would have less in common with them, but I found this wasn't the case. I could very much relate."

In her own genealogical research during a trip to Portugal a few years back, the Monte Sereno resident discovered that her maiden name, Cabral, is an ancient one, meaning "goat," and that there is a coat of arms dedicated to it. "I was so excited to learn this. It left me with a feeling of being a little more important," she recalls. "My parents were peasants; my father would have loved to see this coat of arms and know of the name's significance."

Life for Portuguese immigrants was extremely difficult, as it was for all immigrants. Hard work was a staple of survival. But, according to O'Reilly, the Portuguese are a humble people, so they blended in. This is perhaps why they don't have an overt identity in the community today. There is only one Portuguese restaurant in the Santa Clara Valley, and the Little Portugal neighborhood in San Jose is not well known among non-Portuguese.

"This book stands out to say, 'We're here and not forgotten,' " O'Reilly says. "The book is presented from the women's perspective, and is pertinent in this climate of people being interested in their heritage."

Copies of Stories Grandma Never Told were to be available for purchase at Willow Glen Books, the Portuguese Museum at Kelley Park in San Jose and the Padaria Popular Bakery in San Jose, but call ahead to verify. The book can be ordered through Borders Books, Barnes & Noble and the publisher, Heydey Books in Berkeley, 510/549-3564.

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