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Full-Text Articles in Oral History
Interview No. 1398, J. Jesus Villaseñor Santoyo
Interview No. 1398, J. Jesus Villaseñor Santoyo
Combined Interviews
Mr. Villaseñor talks about his life growing up; during the midforties, his uncle fulfilled several bracero contracts; Jesús saw how well it went for his uncle, and in 1955, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; he describes how he was able to get on the list of eligible workers in Irapuato, Guanajuato, México; from there, he was transported by airplane to Mexicali, Baja California, México, and then to Calexico, California, where ranchers picked the workers they wanted; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Arizona and California picking various fruits and vegetables; he goes on to …
Interview No. 1393, Ángel Guzmán Domínguez
Interview No. 1393, Ángel Guzmán Domínguez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Guzmán talks about growing up, including his family and learning how to make shoes; one of his uncles served in the bracero program, which convinced him to do the same; in 1944, he and five of his friends traveled by boat, bus and train before finally arriving at the contacting station in Queretaro, México; with the proper documentation, he was quickly called and passed all the medical exams; he explains that the men in Queretaro went straight to the railroads, while those processed in Guanajuato, México, went to work in the fields; from the contracting center he was transported …
Interview No. 1396, Jesús Soberano Rodríguez
Interview No. 1396, Jesús Soberano Rodríguez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Soberano talks about helping his father with the livestock at a very young age; in 1959, at the age of nineteen, he went through the hiring process to become a bracero; as part of the process, he was medically examined and deloused; in addition, he talks about the embarrassment he endured during the examination; he traveled to Mexico City, Mexico and then to the processing center in Empalme, Sonora, Mexico; his first contract was in El Centro, California working in the cotton fields; he recalls the working conditions while caring for livestock in El Centro, California; Mr. Soberano recalls …
Interview No. 1394, Félix Loera Carrillo
Interview No. 1394, Félix Loera Carrillo
Combined Interviews
Mr. Loera briefly describes his family and how they worked on an hacienda, but they did not live there; when he was seventeen years old, he came to the United States to work, without documents, in the hope of having a better life; after two years, he returned to México and shortly thereafter married; by the late fifties, he and his wife had two children and were struggling to make ends meet, which led to his decision to enlist in the bracero program; although most men had to pay to get on the list of available workers, he knew someone …
Interview No. 1395, Ofelia Morales
Interview No. 1395, Ofelia Morales
Combined Interviews
Mrs. Morales discusses making blouses at home and selling them to a maquilladora; Mrs. Morales recalls that her father inherited land and he cultivated guayaba; a priest visited with her parents in order to discuss Mr. Felix Loera’s marriage proposal; she recalls her parents being very upset; she was sixteen yeas old when she married Mr. Felix Loera; they had one son, Abadón; they learned of the bracero program in their hometown; she moved back to her parents home while her husband was working in the bracero program; she talks about receiving money from her husband and how she travelled …
Interview No. 1391, Nicasio Cortinas Ortíz
Interview No. 1391, Nicasio Cortinas Ortíz
Combined Interviews
Mr. Cortinaz Ortíz briefly recalls his childhood and the financial difficulties he and his family endured; he talks about his hometown and working in agriculture while growing up; he married ten days before he joined the bracero program; when he was twenty-five years old, he heard about a call for braceros and decided to enlist in the program; he traveled to the contracting center in Monterrey, México; he details the harsh conditions he and the other men endured while waiting at the center; his first contract took him to work in the cotton fields of Texas; he goes on to …
Interview No. 1576, Sebastian Martinez
Interview No. 1576, Sebastian Martinez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Martínez briefly discusses his family; when he was roughly fourteen or fifteen years old, he began working with his father alongside braceros, chopping cotton and other such field duties; he goes on to discuss his experiences working with braceros, and he gives an account of their living and working conditions, provisions, recreational activities, religion, and their general dispositions; in addition, he explains the relationships between the braceros and the surrounding community in Pecos, Texas, which was largely segregated; several of his female relatives, however, did have romantic relationships with braceros; he also speaks about the children of braceros going …
Interview No. 1577, Dolores Huerta
Interview No. 1577, Dolores Huerta
Combined Interviews
Ms. Huerta briefly talks about her parents and what her life was like growing up; as an adult, she began working with braceros as part of the Community Service Organization (CSO); she would often go to the bracero labor camps to help them when they were injured, which included obtaining doctors and/or lawyers when necessary; her mother owned a hotel at the time, where the braceros often stayed; she cared for them, giving them curfews and making sure they did not drink too much; she even invited them to local dances and encouraged them to get involved in the community; …
Interview No. 1578, Andy Imutan
Interview No. 1578, Andy Imutan
Combined Interviews
Mr. Imutan very briefly describes his travels from the Philippines to California; he began working in Delano, California, but he quickly became involved with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); in September of 1965, he was part of a strike that was a continuation of earlier efforts in Coachella, California, to achieve better pay; events in Coachella turned violent, with people getting hurt and equipment being damaged; after demands were met in Coachella, the same companies refused the same wages in Delano, hence the continuing strike; within roughly a week, Cesar Chavez joined the strike; …
Interview No. 1575, Sally Gutierrez Mcquinn
Interview No. 1575, Sally Gutierrez Mcquinn
Combined Interviews
Ms. Gutierrez briefly describes her childhood and family; in the early 1940s she was hired as a bookkeeper for an operational office in Gilroy, California; she was in charge of payroll for the braceros, and she saw firsthand that 10 percent was discounted from their salary; it was her understanding that there was an agreement between the United States and Mexico that the money would be mailed to Mexico so that the braceros would have it available to them when they returned; bracero complaints went through her, because she was the only one in the office; she recalls one instance …
Interview No. 1586, Fred Deyoung
Interview No. 1586, Fred Deyoung
Combined Interviews
Mr. DeYoung describes the work-a-day lives of Braceros on a lettuce harvesting crew; he defines “hoeing and thinning” and the difference between this type of work and “harvesting;” he details the process of harvesting lettuce and provides job descriptions for the multiple roles this process requires including, cutters, spreaders, clampers, stitches, wind rowers, and loaders; he lists the type of clothing items the workers would wear in the fields; he discusses the quality and type of food Braceros ate, as well as the conditions of the labor camps and barracks; Mr. DeYoung also describes the leisure and weekend activities of …
Interview No. 1585, Cecilia Concha Estela
Interview No. 1585, Cecilia Concha Estela
Combined Interviews
Ms. Concha recalls what it was like growing up during the 1930s; her mother would shop in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in order to avoid the rationing of food; she recounts her memories of World War II, while she was a high school student at St. Joseph’s Academy from 1941 to 1945; in addition, she describes the discrimination immigrants in El Paso, Texas, faced; she also details her employment opportunities during and after the war; her grandfather, Trinidad Concha, served as an assistant director to Porfirio Diaz, before arriving in El Paso, in 1896; he formed a musical group that crossed …
Interview No. 1572, John Tomlin
Interview No. 1572, John Tomlin
Combined Interviews
Mr. Tomlin recalls how his mother ran the farm after his father’s passing by using Italian and German POWs; in 1946, after finishing his tour of duty in the Army, he returned home and began attending New Mexico State University; the following year in 1947, he started running the farm on his own while he went to school; in 1948, he began hiring braceros; he used a crew of thirty men during the cotton harvest, which ran from mid September to the beginning of December; he had about six braceros who stayed on year-round driving tractors and irrigating; oftentimes, he …
Interview No. 1574, Raymundo Villa
Interview No. 1574, Raymundo Villa
Combined Interviews
Mr. Villa recalls his childhood growing up on a farm near Ysleta, Texas; he remembers that before the braceros were hired as workers, German POWs and the Tigua Indians would often pick cotton on the farm where he lived; when the braceros were contracted, he acted as an interpreter and aide because his boss could not speak Spanish and they could not speak English; oftentimes he had to help his father work on the farm, and he was unable to finish high school; he recalls picking cotton, the size of the sacks they would use, and how much they were …
Interview No. 1570, Sam Sanchez
Interview No. 1570, Sam Sanchez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Sanchez recalls his childhood and early adolescence; he would often work in the fields with his father picking cotton; during the early years of World War II, Italian POWs and undocumented workers often helped with the harvesting of the cotton as well; he recalls missing the first two or so months of school to help with the crops; in addition, he also recounts how he would often go to Rio Vista, a processing center for braceros in Socorro, Texas, to pick up food slops from the mess hall for his father’s pigs; later, when he graduated from high school, …
Interview No. 1571, Faye Terrazas
Interview No. 1571, Faye Terrazas
Combined Interviews
Ms. Terrazas recalls responding to an advertisement and being hired to work as a clerk and typist at Rio Vista, a bracero processing center in Socorro, Texas; she worked there seasonally during the spring and summer from 1954 to 1957; her primary responsibility was filling out the contracts for the braceros; she offers detailed descriptions of the facilities and the process for filling out the contracts; there were specific insurance specifications that detailed what the braceros were entitled to receive in the event of an injury or accident; her knowledge of the other screening procedures is somewhat limited; she gives …
Interview No. 1573, George Veytia
Interview No. 1573, George Veytia
Combined Interviews
Mr. Veytia briefly recalls his family and childhood; he graduated from Texas Western in 1954, and shortly thereafter joined the Army, where he served until 1956; after being released from the Army, he came to work as a claims adjuster for an insurance company; his primary responsibility was to receive all the claims from the Bracero Program in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas; he describes his position with the company, the various types of policies that were applicable in different situations, their coverage, the company’s range of action, and the average number of insured braceros during a harvesting season; in …
Interview No. 1583, Julius Lowenberg
Interview No. 1583, Julius Lowenberg
Combined Interviews
Mr. Lowenberg briefly describes his family; after graduating from high school, he worked for the South Pacific Railroad as a machinist apprentice; he later came to work for the Public Health Office at the Stanton Bridge in El Paso, and at Rio Vista, a bracero processing center in Socorro, Texas; despite the fact that he had little training, his primary duties involved taking x-rays of the braceros as they were coming into the United States; he describes what he did for each location, what a typical work day was like, and the medical examinations and the delousing process the braceros …
Interview No. 1657, Ismael Diaz De Leon
Interview No. 1657, Ismael Diaz De Leon
Combined Interviews
He recalls that before that he came 15 times as a bracero, that he only attended four years of school, and that first worked when he was 13 years old at a barber shop and then as a barber. He remembers that on another job he had in a hotel is where he learned about the Bracero Program since contractors stayed there, so he, friends, and other people he knew got hired. He describes the requirements for getting hired, that he went to the U.S. as a bracero between 1942 and 1944, mentions the contract centers he went to Irapuato …
Interview No. 1569, Inez Rios
Interview No. 1569, Inez Rios
Combined Interviews
Ms. Rios recalls her childhood and what it was like growing up on a farm near Ysleta, Texas, where her father was the foreman; she recalls that prior to the Bracero Program, there were a number of undocumented workers on the farm; they were often caught by immigration services and returned to México; sometime later, roughly in 1948, braceros were hired to work on the farm; they were contracted through Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas; she recalls how the braceros were chosen and transported to the farm; in addition, she remembers what their living conditions were like, …
Interview No. 1544, Consolacion Herrera Chaidez
Interview No. 1544, Consolacion Herrera Chaidez
Combined Interviews
He remembers being stopped by immigration after work but was released because he had money and was gainfully employed; he recalls returning in the 1930’s to Carreras; his first attempt to join the Bracero Program was unsuccessful, he waited in Mexico City for three months before returning to Carreras; he recalls many people returning from the program with bad experiences and no money, which did not discourage him; on his next attempt of the Bracero Program he was selected; he recalls receiving injections and having his hands inspected in Durango; he worked in the train and in the fields; on …