Oral History Interview with LaRosa (Donna Rose): Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project

Title: Oral History Interview with LaRosa (Donna Rose): Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
LC Subject: Lesbianism Lesbian community
Local Collection ID: Coll 520
Repository: University of Oregon. Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Interviewee: Rose, Donna
Interviewer: Long, Linda, 1956- Raiskin, Judith L.
Description: The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection consists of interviews of 83 people for the Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, conducted by Professor Judith Raiskin and Curator Linda Long at the University of Oregon starting in the summer of 2018.
Abstract: LaRosa was born in 1942 in Warren, Ohio. She was an only child. Her family moved to Cleveland, where she grew up. She discusses her connection to Enid Lefton, who also grew up in Cleveland. She went to Kent State University in 1966 and later studied social work as a graduate student at Boston University. She talks about the anti-war protests going on at the time. She worked in Washington, D.C. at a settlement house and was also involved in the anti-war movement there when she protested Richard Nixon’s inauguration in 1969. She discusses politics. She moved to San Francisco in 1969, where she came out. The women’s movement helped her come out. She went up the west coast and worked on the lesbian liberation movement in Portland. She worked there half-time but made enough money so she could do political work as well. She lived there from 1971 to 1975. She discusses A Woman’s Place Bookstore. In 1975, she moved to lesbian land in southern Oregon, first to Golden (at that time it was gay men’s land) and then to Cabbage Lane. She describes the challenges of living on rustic land. She later moved to Rootworks, which became lesbian land. She helped facilitate the purchase of this land by Jean and Ruth Mountaingrove. In Eugene, she learned cabinetmaking at Lane Community College, and taught woodworking there for many years. She worked as a carpenter for twenty-five years. She also worked in the Women’s Center at Lane Community College and with the Women in Transition Program there. LaRosa says she felt sustained by the lesbian community in Eugene, and by the Jewish community as well. She talks about the culture of the lesbian community and about class issues. In retirement, she is a snowbird, spending her winters in Arizona where she is involved with the Lesbian community in addition to working on border and immigration issues.
Subject: Amazon Kung Fu; Baleboostehs; Ballot Measure 8; Ballot Measure 9; Class consciousness; Communal living – Oregon; Crescent Construction; Lesbian separatism – Oregon; Lez Dance; Morrigan, Kendra; Peralandra Pearl Divers; Softball; Soromundi Lesbian Chorus of Eugene; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- United States.
Location: University of Oregon >> Lane County >> Oregon >> United States
Date: 2018-09-14
Identifier: Coll520_do049
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: University of Oregon Libraries
Local Collection Name: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Type: Moving Image
Format: video/mp4
Set: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Institution: University of Oregon