Oral History Commons^™

Interview No. 1688, Lucía Martinez

Combined Interviews

Lucía was born in El Paso, Texas in 1960 and was raised in the Barrio Chamizal. She has two younger sisters, Rosalva and Angelica. Her mother is from Troncoso, Zacatecas, Mexico and her family had moved to Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico because of a drought. Her paternal grandmother, Carmen was born in El Paso in 1910 but when she was fifteen she went back to Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. Her father was born there in 1932 and his family eventually came to Juárez to La Chaveña. Around the mid-fifties they came to El Paso. They bought a house by San Antonio Street …

Interview No. 1689, Rebeca Pimentel

Combined Interviews

Rebeca was born in Cuidad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Her family would move between Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and Las Nieves, Durango, Mexico and eventually crossed into El Paso, Texas. Her father left them when she was four years old and went to El Monte, California. She has three younger siblings. When she was nine years old, they moved to El Paso where her mother worked as a waitress. Rebeca started going to seventh grade at Guillen Middle School when she was fifteen years old. She did not have any schooling before and had only been in the third grade in Juárez. …

Interview No. 1691, Luis M. Villa

Combined Interviews

Luis was born in El Paso, Texas. He grew up with his parents in his grandparents’ house. His grandfather would grow corn and sweet peas and had fruit trees. He lived there until he was about fourteen years old. His grandmother was raising her brother’s daughter, his aunt who was about three years older than Luis. One day her mother scolded his aunt. His grandmother did not like this so she hit and slapped her. Soon after, his father decided for them to move out. They moved into his mother’s comadre’s house because they were moving to California. He had …

Interview No. 1690, Emma S. Villa

Combined Interviews

Emma was born and raised in El Paso, Texas in 1935. She had two brothers and one sister. One of her brothers has passed away. She is the youngest. Her father was from Mexico and crossed illegally into the United States. He had no education but had his own business building houses around Austin School. Only her sister graduated from Bowie School because her brothers had to quit in order to run the business when their father got sick. Emma was around ten years old. Both of her brothers went into the service and the oldest was in the Korean …

Interview No. 1687, Mary Zamora

Combined Interviews

Mary was born in Ysleta, Texas in 1955. She grew up in Socorro, Texas and lived there until she was seventeen years old. Her paternal grandfather was a Comanche from San Elizario, Texas and her grandmother was an Apache from Ruidoso, New Mexico. They met in San Elizario, got married, and had fourteen children. Eventually they moved to Socorro, Texas. Mary attended Socorro Elementary School. She spoke mostly Spanish but had to learn English quickly because they would swat them for speaking Spanish. Her father worked building houses, was a janitor in the Ysleta School District, and would cultivate cotton. …

Interview No. 1686, Jesus Zamora

Combined Interviews

Jesus was born in El Paso, Texas in the Segundo Barrio. He recalls living in an apartment complex facing the Franklin Canal on 7th and Virginia Street. There were a lot of gangs around including Los Equis Sietes and Los Catorces. He recalls coming home late from Armijo when he was about 6 years old. The gangs would fight on the corner of 7th and Virginia with chains and knives. He came out to run home and got hit with a chain. A lady in her seventies was watching and she came out to tell them to go home. He …

Interview No. 1685, Salvador Avila

Combined Interviews

Salvador was born in Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. All of his siblings were born in the United States. They came to El Paso, Texas in 1967 when he was in seventh grade and arrived to Canutillo, Texas where he went to school. His father was a farm worker and his mother was a home keeper that would work in Mountain Pass Cannery during the summers. His siblings and he would work in the fields picking mostly onion but also weeds and chilies. He had seven siblings but one has passed away. He had a terrible time in school. He did not …

Interview No. 1711, Beatriz Villegas

Combined Interviews

Beatriz was born in Torreon Coahuila, Mexico. She arrived in El Paso when she was 25 years old because she got married, but she used to visit El Paso frequently because she lived in Juarez with her family. Her stepdad made the family moved to Juarez because he thought that it was cheaper living there.

Beatriz has always considered herself a Mexican woman, but she knew that in reality, she was an American citizen. Throughout the years she has work as a community activist and spiritual activist when Beatriz was asked about her being a leader she mentioned that she …

Interview No. 1683, Hilda Villegas

Combined Interviews

Hilda was born in El Paso, Texas. She was raised in El Barrio Chamizal and attended Beall Elementary, Guillen Middle, and Bowie High School. She recalls that growing up in the community felt like home. She talks about the possible closure of Beall Elementary by El Paso Independent School District as an alternative to cutting costs due to underutilization of elementary schools. She feels that they are targeting areas in which the parents are not as engaged. The students would be redistributed into Zavala and Douglass Elementary Schools. Since it is one of the poorest areas in El Paso, mobility …

Interview No. 1706, Alicia Marentes

Combined Interviews

Alicia was born in Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua, Mexico. When Alicia was 16 years old she got married and crossed the border thru the river and head to Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband. As a young immigrant, she couldn’t get a job so she started cleaning houses and her first cleaning job was at a Doctor's house. With the money that she earned she saved a portion every month and used to send it to her mother back in Juarez.

Alicia then moved back to Juarez while her husband went and worked in Los Angeles. After a couple of months, …

Interview No. 1684, José Rodríguez

Combined Interviews

Senator José Rodríguez was born in Alice, Texas and grew up in Alamo, Texas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He went to grade school in the mid-fifties when Mexican-American students went to separate schools from Anglo students. These schools did not have all of the resources that were in the Anglo schools. If they spoke Spanish they were paddled. He felt like he did not receive a very challenging elementary education. In middle and high school he came across teachers that saw potential in him and encouraged him to read books. They would give him books to take when …

Guide To Ms315 Carl Hertzog Collection, Cindy Milazzo

Finding Aids

Jean Carl Hertzog (1902 – 1984) was a book designer, typographer, and printer. The Hertzog ephemera collection dates 1947 – 2010, bulk 1950 – 1990. This collection contains materials about or by Carl Hertzog which were collected by various donors. Types of records include publications printed and designed by Carl Hertzog, book catalogs, correspondence, UTEP handbooks and catalogs, slides, holiday cards, an audio tape, and other printed material.

Interview No. 1709, Lorena Andrade

Combined Interviews

Lorena Andrade is the director of La Mujer Obrera. Andrade grew up in Los Angeles, California and moved to El Paso, Texas in 1997 to volunteer with LMO. She began working with the organization in 1998.

Andrade defines leadership as being able to remember what the principles of the organization are and as a leader, ensuring that those are respected during meetings, discussions, and decision making. She also believes that a leader’s responsibility is to reinforce these principles and make sure that everyone is heard. As a leader, she works to keep the history and the values of the LMO …

C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department Newsletter, Special Collections Staff

UTEP Library

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