Interview with Lullita Samuels

Lullita Samuels discusses her background in terms of her mother and iwi and her father and her Indian heritage. She reflects upon her earliest experiences, including doing vegetable and bottle rounds with her father and grandfather on Ponsonby Road. She talks about the men in the Indian community and the forming of the Indian Association.

Explains how she lived with her Maori grandfather and then with her parents and recalls selling newspapers in front of her family's fruit shop. Talks about how she had to dress like an "Indian girl" and behave like one. Recalls how she was "Miss India" on a float in a parade for the Empire Games.

Talks about not realizing she was Maori as a child, discovering her Maoritanga in her teenage years and discusses a period when she was not accepted by the Indian community. Discusses a romance with an Indian man marrying a Maori. Talks about raising 7 children and working at the same time. Discusses her experiences in recent years, her career, the reclaiming of her Maori identity, her future and vision of going back to India.

Venue - Auckland

Interviewer(s) - Mandrika Rupa

Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-006128

Quantity: 1 C60 cassette(s). 1 Hours Duration.

Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete brief abstract OHA-1375.

Alternative form available: Once permission is given a listening copy is available at OHLC-003004.