Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- University of Texas at El Paso. Institute of Oral History—interviews. (748)
- Oral History (504)
- Bracero (496)
- Labor History (495)
- University of Texas at El Paso. Institute of Oral History--interviews (495)
-
- University of Texas at El Paso. Institute of Oral History—interviews (140)
- Mexico-Revolution (96)
- University of Texas at El Paso--History (68)
- Institute of Oral History—interviews. (63)
- Border-Union Strikes (60)
- Illegal Aliens-In United States (60)
- The Depression (46)
- Discrimination (45)
- Prohibition (44)
- El Paso-History (43)
- World War II (38)
- Mining-Mexico (34)
- Unions (31)
- History (28)
- University of Texas at El Paso (28)
- Mexican-American--Relations with Anglos (27)
- Chicano-The Word (24)
- ASARCO (23)
- Chicano-Movement (23)
- El Paso-Medical Community (22)
- Flu Epidemic of 1918 (21)
- Big Bend National Park (19)
- El Paso-world war II homefront (19)
- UTEP (19)
- Women's Issues (19)
- Publication Year
Articles 1 - 30 of 1468
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Interview No. 1638, Margarita R. Mendoza
Interview No. 1638, Margarita R. Mendoza
Combined Interviews
Margarita Mendoza was an employee for Union Manufacturing in El Paso, TX; was born in East Chicago, IN on July 28, 1927; her parents were from Durango, Mexico; her father was a farmer for his mother’s family on their hacienda, she describes how they met when she was a baby and he was a farmhand; she reveals father’s brothers fought with the revolutionaries in the Mexican Revolution, but he came to the U.S. in 1910; she relays mother’s family struggle to escape the Mexican Revolution, she describes her parent’s courtship; she mentions they had six children while working in Kansas …
Interview No. 1464, Silbano Robledo
Interview No. 1464, Silbano Robledo
Combined Interviews
Silbano Robledo was very tired of working in his town from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm without a good salary. After he got married, he started a small business selling peanuts. Mr. Robledo traveled to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to get hired as a bracero; He worked in El Valle picking cotton and then traveled to La Mesa de Lobos and worked doing the same job. He worked as a bracero for three years until 1959. He worked from twelve-hour days with a salary of $ 7.00 dollars per day. Robledo lived with his co-workers and they all together bought …
Interview No. 1438, Sebastián Ruíz Ávila
Interview No. 1438, Sebastián Ruíz Ávila
Combined Interviews
Sebastian Ruíz Ávila lived there up until his late teens. He worked as baker helper in Matamores until he learned about the braceros. He worked at Lamesa, Texas. He was able to help his family back in México by working in the cotton fields everyday. His payment was based on the amount of cotton he would pick up. He worked 6 years as a bracero for the same person. Mr. Ruíz didn’t know English during his time working as a bracero. After having a family in Mexico, Mr. Ruíz stayed there working as a brick-maker. Then, he became a politician, …
Interview No. 1474, Jesus J. Ibarra Huerta
Interview No. 1474, Jesus J. Ibarra Huerta
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ibarra worked as a farmer since he was young. He traveled to Monterrey, Mexico to get hired as a bracero and then to El Paso del Aguila, Texas. Ibarra worked for the first time picking cotton in Laredo, Texas. He renewed his contract three consecutive times and worked in Bryan, Mission, McAllen and Mandy Texas. Ibarra worked in six different cities around Texas in 1957 and 1958. He renewed his contract and worked for eight months picking beetroot in Bay City, Michigan. He worked as a bracero for the last time in 1964. He got his American residency thanks …
Interview No. 1472, Maria Arreola Galvan
Interview No. 1473, Octaviano Galvan
Interview No. 1466, Antonio Garcia Delgado
Interview No. 1466, Antonio Garcia Delgado
Combined Interviews
Antonio Garcia Delgado worked picking pumpkins since he was a child. He traveled to Monterey, Mexico with his father and both were hired to work as braceros. Garcia worked picking cotton in Santa Rosa, Texas. He renewed his contract and worked in Mumford, Texas. Garcia never knew how much money he earned during that time because his father collected his checks. Garcia collected around two hundred and twenty pounds of cotton per day. Garcia traveled with his wife to San Antonio, Texas and worked without documents He feels proud because he became an American Citizen.
Interview No. 1471, José Tello
Interview No. 1471, José Tello
Combined Interviews
Mr. Tello briefly recalls his childhood and how it was growing up in the ranch he lived in; while working in the ranch he heard about the Bracero Program and traveled to the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, where the processing center was; he explains that the process was fairly easy for him and that there weren’t many requirements or medical examinations; he recalls crossing the border at Laredo, Texas; as a bracero he completed several contracts picking cotton and radish in the states of Texas, California, and Arkansas; he briefly describes the living and working conditions at the …
Interview No. 1465, Asención Flores
Interview No. 1465, Asención Flores
Combined Interviews
Asención Flores Saldaña started working when he was ten years old. He heard about the Bracero Program when he was in Jalisco. Flores was hired as a bracero in Empalme, Sonora. In 1926, he worked as a bracero for three months in California. In 1929, he was hired again as a bracero and worked picking cotton in Pecos. Flores only worked three days in Pecos because the weather was very bad. Flores renewed his contract and worked in Soledad picking tomatoes. He worked six days per week and sometimes all week. The salary was $12.00 per day, but he paid …
Interview No. 1467, Ramón Gil
Interview No. 1467, Ramón Gil
Combined Interviews
Ramón Gil worked as a bracero at Salt Pacific in Sacramento, California. Gil organized the material for the railroad for six months, then he moved to Tampico, Mexico. In Tamaulipas, he worked in the Mexican oil business and later he moved to Buffalo, New York, where he got married and started a family. As a bracero, he was paid every 15 days; his wage was $8.16 per hour. Gil had only one bad experience as a bracero, they were supposed to have a savings account at Wells Fargo, but he has never seen a penny of that money.
Interview No. 1468, Rafael Gonzalez M.
Interview No. 1468, Rafael Gonzalez M.
Combined Interviews
Mr. González talks about his childhood and growing up working in the mines since a young age; in 1950 he moves to the city of Nava in México, close to the border, where he finds out about the Bracero Program; he enlists and goes through the hiring process; furthermore, he mentions the hiring center, the requisites, and the medical examinations they went through; upon crossing he worked in the cotton fields, as well as in chard, lettuce, and beet root fields, in different ranches of the state of Texas; besides of the working conditions, he describes the living conditions, the …
Interview No. 1469, Jose Mata Alvarez
Interview No. 1469, Jose Mata Alvarez
Combined Interviews
Jose Mata Alvarez started working at a very young age. He traveled to Tamaulipas, Mexico to get hired as a bracero for the first time. In 1960 he worked in Texas and in 1961 he moved to California. Mata worked picking beetroot and cleaning beans. He renewed his contract and worked for the last time as a bracero in 1964 in Denver, Colorado. He also worked picking grapes and lemon. Sometime, he worked six days a week and more than eight hours per day. The salary was based on the quantity not on the hours worked per day. He was …
Interview No. 1470, Cipriano Romero
Interview No. 1470, Cipriano Romero
Combined Interviews
Cipriano Romero worked picking cotton since he was ten years old. He traveled to Monterrey, Nuevo León, México to get hired in the bracero program. In 1956, Romero started working picking cotton in Helena, Arkansas. He renewed his contract and worked in Stockton, California. Romero had his first child at 22 years old in Arkansas. The salary was between $1.55 and $2.550 per hundred pounds of cotton. He worked as many hours as he could five days a week. Romero never had problems with the food or the housing provided in the different places where he worked. Romero remembered that …
Interview No. 1462, Fabian Landaverde S.
Interview No. 1462, Fabian Landaverde S.
Combined Interviews
Mr. Landaverde briefly remembers his childhood talking about his hometown, and about playing and working in the lands along with his father; before he was a bracero, he entered the United States in 1951 to work in the railroad tracks in Colorado; in 1955, Mr. Landaverde, who was already married, went through the hiring process to become a bracero; he recalls going through the centers in Monterrey and El Paso, Texas; in addition, he explains that, because of his little knowledge in English, he helped as a translator in one of the centers; he also describes the hiring process where …
Interview No. 1459, Jesus T. Castilleda
Interview No. 1459, Jesus T. Castilleda
Combined Interviews
Mr. Castilleda briefly recalls his childhood and working in agriculture with his family; he crossed the border to work illegally in the cotton fields with his father when he was ten or twelve years old; he remembers that his uncles came as braceros and as soon as he turned eighteen he enlisted in the city of Monterrey; after enlisting, he went through contracting centers in Piedras Negras and Hidalgo, Texas; he remembers the medical exams they were put through; he worked in places like La Mesa and Big Springs, Texas, as well as in Tennessee and Arkansas, mainly on cotton …
Interview No. 1460, Ramon García
Interview No. 1460, Ramon García
Combined Interviews
Mr. García mentions his childhood and how difficult it was when his parents separated; he and his siblings had to work to support their family when they were only children; he crossed illegally at the age of fifteen to work in the U.S.; when he was eighteen he decided to enlist in the bracero program and went to the contracting center in Monterrey, Nuevo León; he remembers the entire process, including the waiting times, the amount of people, and the harsh conditions; he recalls the medical exams he went through; after being hired he was sent to Arkansas to the …
Interview No. 1461, Marcelino Gonzalez D.
Interview No. 1461, Marcelino Gonzalez D.
Combined Interviews
Mr. Gonzalez talks about his hometown and how, despite the economic difficulties, he enjoyed his childhood; he describes his schooling and that when he was studying he wanted to come to the united States to work; around the year of 1954, Mr. Gonzalez went through the hiring process to become a bracero; he mentions going through the hiring center of Monterrey, Nuevo León, México; he describes the embarrassment of going through physical medical exams, where they were stripped and examined; as a bracero, Mr. Gonzalez remembers mainly working in the cotton, onion, and lettuce fields of El Paso, Plainview and …
Interview No. 1463, Juventino Muñoz P.
Interview No. 1463, Juventino Muñoz P.
Combined Interviews
Mr. Muñoz briefly recalls his family and childhood; he remembers his family living under good conditions having lands and animals; when he was around 12 years old his family lost everything and he had to quit school in order to work in the fields; he served in the Mexican military until he became a bracero in June of 1963; Mr. Muñoz recalls the entire process, including going through centers in Piedras Negras and Mexicali; in addition, he mentions going through medical examinations; as a bracero he worked in the cucumber fields in Michigan and then he worked on the lemon …
Interview No. 1336, Jose Bujanda
Interview No. 1336, Jose Bujanda
Combined Interviews
Mr. Bujanda education was limited to the third grade because he had to help his father harvest crops; he started working at a very young age in his father’s corn field, his duties included irrigating, planting seeds and harvesting corn; at the age of 15 Mr. Bujanda traveled to Hermosillo to harvest cotton, soon after he traveled to Sonora where he was working as a tractor operator; before becoming a Bracero in 1959, Mr. Bujanda was working as a chauffeur and to this day that is his permanent job; Mr. Bujanda’s first Bracero experience was in Caléxico, California where he …
Interview No. 1639, Itzhak Kotkowski
Interview No. 1639, Itzhak Kotkowski
Combined Interviews
Itzhak Kotkowski is an author that wrote about his experiences in the Holocaust during World War II; he was born in Warsaw, Poland on December 25, 1921; his family was Jewish, attended private school; Mr. Kotkowski addresses anti-Semitism among Polish people, personally never experienced it; he lived in the Jewish section, enjoyed life there until the German invasion on September 1, 1939; he recalls being at home when Warsaw was occupied, had always respected German culture; he explains his father worked hard to give them an education; he describes his three sisters, one was in Mexico, one immigrated to the …
Interview No. 1233, Antonio Nuño
Interview No. 1233, Antonio Nuño
Combined Interviews
Mr. Nuño talks about his family and what his life was like growing up; he later married, and when he was roughly twenty years old, he and his wife moved to Mexicali, Baja California, México to be with her family; he began crossing into the United States to work without proper documentation, but shortly after he obtained a bracero contract in 1949 with the help of family friends; later, he had to go through the contracting process in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, where he was stripped, medically examined and deloused; he explains that he paid bribes to go through the process …
Interview No. 1388, Maria Zarate
Interview No. 1388, Maria Zarate
Combined Interviews
Maria Zarate was born in Paracho, Michoacán, México. Her father worked as a bracero in the United States. At a young age her father pasted away, for this reason she started working with her brothers caring for animal and planting seeds. At an age of twenty, she married for the first time. One year later, her husband passed away. Eight years later she married a second time only to take care of her second husband’s daughters. Her second husband, Federico worked as a bracero in the United States in 1954. Ms. Zarate lasted long periods of time without her husband …
Interview No. 1424, Feliciano Zarupe
Interview No. 1424, Feliciano Zarupe
Combined Interviews
Feliciano never went to school and from a very young age he began working, collecting resin from pine trees so it could be processed for various needs. Feliciano entered the Bracero Program in 1960 and the first part of the recruitment process, the physical examination, took place in Empalme. Then they were sent to Calexico where they were dusted against lice. Feliciano first went to Oxnard in Parque del Sol when he arrived in the United States and then was sent to Lompoc in Santa Maria county, California where he worked harvested lettuce for 45 days. A typical day began …
Interview No. 1421, Ramiro Solis
Interview No. 1421, Ramiro Solis
Combined Interviews
Ramiro Solis was born on December 28, 1922 in Tekax Yucatán, México attended school and learned to read and write, however, after his father passed away, everyone in the family had to start working. Ramiro left school to work with his father’s former Chinese countrymen who paid Ramiro $0.02 cents a row for harvesting herbs and he would earn $0.10 -$0.12 cents a day for his work. He went on to work as a roper (one who makes ropes) in Mérida, Yucatán. Then there was a decline in jobs, and the Mexican government began pushing for unemployed men to enter …
Interview No. 1100, Margarita Flores
Interview No. 1100, Margarita Flores
Combined Interviews
Ms. Flores briefly recalls her childhood and the financial difficulties her parents endured; Ms. Flores recalls that she and her mother were in the United States without documentation; her father went through the contracting center in Juárez, Chihuahua, México; upon being hired, he was sent to Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas; she and her parents were allowed to reside at Sparks Ranch, while the majority of the other braceros were transported to another camp; her mother’s primary duties on the ranch consisted of cooking for the braceros; as a bracero, her father completed one contract and labored …
Interview No. 1423, Ben Zapata
Interview No. 1423, Ben Zapata
Combined Interviews
Benjamin Zapata was born in 1935 in the Yucatán. In the village that Benjamin lived, they worked in in making hats and head gear. Benjamin had friends who came into the Bracero Program and convinced him to join as well. In 1958, Benjamin decided to join the Bracero Program and he went to Empalme Sonora, México to register for the Bracero Program. From there Benjamin went to Mexicali, México and then he crossed the border and traveled to San Joaquin and Tracy, California. His first job had Benjamin picking tomatoes, that contract lasted for forty-five days. At the end of …
Interview No. 1418, Porfirio Z. Rico
Interview No. 1418, Porfirio Z. Rico
Combined Interviews
Porfirio Rico was born in Jéruco Michoacán, México on September 14, 1914. He attended school until the second grade when Porfirio was taken out of school so he could learn to tend to animals and do housework and light field work. When he was about 10 or 11 years old, Porfirio worked with his grandfather, earning $.15 cents an hour. Porfirio worked in various places such as Morelia, Irapuato Guanajuato, Guadalajara, Aguascalientes in México. Porfirio heard about the Bracero Program and decided to give it a try because the work in México was becoming very hard to come by. When …
Interview No. 1420, Eduardo Saldaña
Interview No. 1420, Eduardo Saldaña
Combined Interviews
Eduardo was born in a town (rancho) called Ojos de Agua, located within the Greater México City urban area, in 1920. From the age of five, Eduardo worked with him father, brothers and uncles sowing and plowing in México. When he was 16, he moved to México City. In 1943 after hearing about the Bracero Program in a national ad, Eduardo took a chance to make more money and have a better opportunity through the program. Eduardo and one of his brothers came to the United States via train and were provided food during their travel, courtesy of their new …
Interview No. 1436, Félix Flores Juan
Interview No. 1436, Félix Flores Juan
Combined Interviews
Mr. Flores describes what life was like when he was growing up and working with his father as a fisherman; he recalls men coming to town to recruit people for the bracero program; later, when he married, there were no more fish, which prompted him to enlist in the bracero program; he took a boat off the island and then took a bus with a group of men to Empalme, Sonora, México; as a bracero, he worked in the fields of Texas, picking and packing various crops; he goes on to detail housing, provisions, duties, treatment, contract renewals, payment, remittances, …
Interview No. 1457, Custodio Navarrete Cárdenas
Interview No. 1457, Custodio Navarrete Cárdenas
Combined Interviews
Custodio Navarrete Cardeas worked with his father caring for animals in the field. Navarrete was hired as a bracero in 1961. He traveled to Calexico in order to know his future work place. The first city where Navarrete worked was in King City, California cutting lettuce and carrots. Navarrete lived with all the other workers close to the work place. He played cards in his free time with other workers, sometimes he won money but sometimes lost the check. Mr. Navarrete went back to Mexico after his contract. Navarrete was shot and was not able to return to work as …