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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Interview No. 1430, Vicente Campos Cruz
Interview No. 1430, Vicente Campos Cruz
Combined Interviews
Mr. Campos vividly describes his childhood and spending most of his time fishing with his family; in 1952, he came to the United States without documentation and worked in Los Angeles, California for roughly six months; he was eventually stopped by immigration officials and sent back to México; some time after, he married, and he and his wife began having children; in 1960, he decided to enlist in the bracero program in order to better provide for his family; he describes the process of providing the list of available workers to government officials and going to the contracting center; as …
Interview No. 1435, Clara Eligio Tenorio
Interview No. 1435, Clara Eligio Tenorio
Combined Interviews
Ms. Eligio briefly talks about her family; she later married at the age of sixteen; her husband served in the bracero program and completed two contracts; he left with her brother, which helped her feel more at ease; in the United States her husband picked tomatoes and was gone for a few months at a time; while he was away she made nets to sell, which was how she survived; moreover, she was also able to catch and sell fish to supplement her income; she lived with her mother-in-law, and they had a good relationship; Clara was also able to …
Interview No. 1443, Salvador Morales Quiroz
Interview No. 1443, Salvador Morales Quiroz
Combined Interviews
Mr. Morales talks about going to school as a child and how he primarily spoke Purépeche or Tarasco and very little Spanish; growing up, he heard about the bracero program and how men earned more money in the United States, especially given the dollar to peso ratio; during the midfifties, he decided to enlist as a bracero, and he later obtained another contract in 1960; he mentions getting on the list of available workers and waiting for a month before leaving; because he knew he would buy clothes in the United States he only took a small bag with one …
Interview No. 1429, Audelia Bentura Cortéz
Interview No. 1429, Audelia Bentura Cortéz
Combined Interviews
Ms. Bentura describes what her life was like growing up; her family was very poor, and they suffered greatly; she briefly recounts her courtship with her husband and how he asked for her hand in marriage with his parents, who were also fishermen; after Audelia married she went to live with her in-laws; she helped her mother-in-law with household chores, including preparing meals for the family and the help and cleaning the fish; after eight years of marriage and four children, her husband enlisted in the bracero program, with one of her brothers; they labored in the fields of Texas; …
Interview No. 1437, Nicolás Grimaldo Andrade
Interview No. 1437, Nicolás Grimaldo Andrade
Combined Interviews
Mr. Grimaldo talks about his family and hometown; when he was growing up, his parents did not own the land they worked, which was problematic; during the early fifties, one of his older brothers enlisted in the bracero program and worked in Michigan; Nicolás would pick up the letters and money his brother sent home; in 1955, at the age of twenty-two, he decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps and become a bracero; he describes the process and necessary paperwork to enlist at the contracting center in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México; on two separate occasions, while passing though Chihuahua, …
Interview No. 1431, Santos Cruz Hernández
Interview No. 1431, Santos Cruz Hernández
Combined Interviews
Mr. Cruz briefly talks about his family and his parents in particular; he recalls the difficulties they faced living on an ejido; in 1942, he learned about the bracero program and how some men worked on the railroads; a few years later, in 1945, he decided to enlist in the program; he usually traveled by bus to the contracting centers with groups of fifteen to thirty men; roughly eighty men from his ejido joined the program; from the center in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, he was transported to Hidalgo, Texas, where ranchers picked the workers they wanted; as a …
Interview No. 1439, Hilario Martínez Cortez
Interview No. 1439, Hilario Martínez Cortez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Martínez talks about his family and life growing up on an hacienda; moreover, he weeps upon recollecting his early childhood and his father’s subsequent death; he also remembers one of his older brothers trying to enlist in the bracero program but not being accepted; sometime later, Hilario began working as a tailor, but he did not make enough money, which led him to enroll in the program; his family did not want him to go, because they were afraid he would not return; even so, he went through contracting centers in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Monterrey, Nuevo León, and Empalme, …
Interview No. 1442, Roberto Meléndez López
Interview No. 1442, Roberto Meléndez López
Combined Interviews
Mr. Meléndez talks about his family and growing up on an ejido where he learned to work the land and care for animals; when the land did not produce enough crops to maintain the family, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; his father was too old to work, and he had to help support the family; in 1955, he went to Monterrey, Nuevo León, México with the necessary paperwork and joined the program; as a bracero, he worked in Arkansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas and Wisconsin picking, irrigating and driving a tractor in the beet, corn, cotton and tomato …
Interview No. 1425, Santos Alejandro González
Interview No. 1425, Santos Alejandro González
Combined Interviews
Mr. González talks about growing up on an ejido and the various difficulties he and his family faced; in 1952, he and his cousin came to work in the United States without documents, because they did not know about the bracero program; two years later, in 1954, Santos was able to enlist as a bracero in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México; the contracting process was especially difficult due to the examinations and delousing procedures he underwent; he describes how he and other men suffered and how they were treated like rented animals; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of …
Interview No. 1445, Roman Olivares Hernandez
Interview No. 1445, Roman Olivares Hernandez
Combined Interviews
Olivares Hernandez traveled to Monterrey with his father. Hernandez studied in Monterey, México until high school. After he studied, he traveled to the United States to work without documentation. In 1958, Olivares was hired in the bracero program. The first place where Olivares worked was Allenton, Michigan picking cucumber. His bosses treated him well and were very happy about that. The food offered in the fields was really good, once the braceros complained about the food and his bosses fixed the problem. Olivares is very disappointed because the American government did not give him his retirement money and he is …
Interview No. 1447, Rosalío Padilla Barajas
Interview No. 1447, Rosalío Padilla Barajas
Combined Interviews
Mr. Padilla talks about his family, how they became part of an ejido and what life was like for them; he also offers a detailed description of the agricultural restructuring occurring during the midthirties; life was extremely difficult, and some of his brothers enlisted in the bracero program; Rosalío eventually decided to follow in their footsteps after he and his family faced problems with the ejido; as part of the contracting process, he underwent medical exams and was stripped and deloused; after bathing, he and other men were kept naked and told to exercise in an attempt to determine …
Interview No. 1455, Orfa Noemí Soberanis González
Interview No. 1455, Orfa Noemí Soberanis González
Combined Interviews
Ms. Soberanis describes growing up on an hacienda with her family, including the different homes she lived in and moving around a lot; she remembers helping her mother run the household and making tortillas; when she was nineteen years old, she met her husband, who was four years older than her; he asked for her hand in marriage, and they had to wait for six months before getting married; she vividly recounts all the various details of the wedding, from her dress and shoes to the church and great party that followed; they lived in a home her father-in-law had …
Interview No. 1399, Rodolfo Balderrama
Interview No. 1399, Rodolfo Balderrama
Combined Interviews
Rodolfo Balderrama had some ranches in Satevó Chihuahua, México. He heard of the Bracero Program from a few ranch hands who had worked in the program. Coupled with curiosity and poverty, Rodolfo decided to try the program for himself. He experienced the lengthy entrance portion of the Bracero Program where his hands were closely examined for callouses, nicks and cuts; signs that proved he worked on a ranch/farm. Rodolfo was given x-rays to determine if he had tuberculosis and was searched in his head for lice. He traveled to many cities around the United States while working for the Bracero …
Interview No. 1400, Ezequiel García
Interview No. 1400, Ezequiel García
Combined Interviews
Ezequiel García entered the Bracero Program in 1952 when he was 20 years old. As a bracero in the Bracero Program, Ezequiel pick various fruits, vegetables and plants such as sugar beets, tomato, cabbage, lettuce, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and tobacco. Ezequiel earned $0.75 cents an hour for his work in the Bracero Program and worked for several different employers for lengthy amounts of time. He recounts nothing but fond memories and feels grateful to his employers who treated him well. Ezequiel found the procedures for entrance to the Bracero Programs in order and without problems. Ezequiel worked very hard …
Interview No. 1422, Luis Zamudio
Interview No. 1422, Luis Zamudio
Combined Interviews
Luis Ruiz Zamudio was born in Moroleón Guanajuato, México on August 19th, 1935. Moroleón was a town known for creating shawls (rebozos) and according to Luis, 99% of the townspeople work in one form or another in creating shawls. When Luis was between the ages of 8-10 years old, he began making bobbins and spools for shawl making. However, shawl manufacturing did not pay enough and Luis’s parents had to still take care to plant a plot if corn every year. When he was in the 6th grade, he and his siblings left school to start working full time. Luis …
Interview No. 1348, Isidro Herrera Ortega
Interview No. 1348, Isidro Herrera Ortega
Combined Interviews
Mr. Herrera talks about his hometown and working in agriculture and with livestock while growing up; he knew about the bracero program when it first started in the early 1940s; a number of men joined and returned, including his father and some of his uncles; Isidro decided to follow in their footsteps and enlisted in 1955 with the hopes of having a better life; to begin the contracting process, he traveled by bus to Irapuato, Guanajuato, México; later, he also went through the center in Empalme, Sonora, México; the center in Irapuato was situated on an old military camp, and …
Interview No. 1347, Alejandro Hernández
Interview No. 1347, Alejandro Hernández
Combined Interviews
Mr. Hernández talks about his family and how much he suffered growing up; he initially learned about the bracero program through the radio; in 1950, he and a friend went to Chihuahua, México to earn money picking cotton; from there they went to the contracting center in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México, which was situated in an abandoned racetrack; among the thousands waiting, they found some friends that were already on a list of workers; two men from the list were missing and they easily took their place; Alejandro describes crossing into El Paso, Texas, where he was stripped, examined and …
Interview No. 1351, Pedro L. Lechuga
Interview No. 1351, Pedro L. Lechuga
Combined Interviews
Mr. Lechuga briefly mentions his family; he recalls hearing rumors about men earning a lot of money in the United States; in 1952, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; although his wife was against it, she knew he had to leave; he went through the center in Chihuahua, México, and he describes the necessary documents and medical exams he underwent; when crossing the border in El Paso, Texas, he endured further assessments; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas cleaning, pruning and picking beets, cotton, cucumber and green …
Interview No. 1353, Venustiano Machado
Interview No. 1353, Venustiano Machado
Combined Interviews
Mr. Machado talks about his family and the death of his father when he was a boy; by the time he was fifteen, he was working in the United States; during the early 1950s, he put himself on the list of available workers in Sinaloa, México; he describes the necessary requirements and process he underwent; moreover, he explains that he had to pay ten pesos for someone to fill out the papers, because he was illiterate; once he crossed into the United States, he was stripped and medically examined; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Santa Ana, …
Interview No. 1355, Zenon Martínez Banda
Interview No. 1355, Zenon Martínez Banda
Combined Interviews
Mr. Martínez recalls hearing people talk favorably about the bracero program and wanting to enlist; while in his early twenties, he decided to join the bracero program; he describes the requirements and necessary paperwork to enlist; additionally, he recounts going through the center in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México and entering the United States through Hidalgo, Texas; he also went through the center in Chihuahua and Sonora, México and entered through El Paso, Texas and Nogales, Arizona, respectively; Zenon also describes the medical exams and fumigation procedures he underwent; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Arizona, California and …
Interview No. 1357, Angel M. Moreno
Interview No. 1357, Angel M. Moreno
Combined Interviews
Mr. Moreno talks about his family, his hometown and what his life was like growing up; he learned about the bracero program when it began through the newspapers and radio; when he was sixteen years old, he worked at a bakery; after a fight with his boss, he was fired, which prompted him to enlist as a bracero; he describes the requirements and the general questions he had to answer about farming; while waiting at the center, which was in a stadium, there were so many people that a stampede ensued and many were injured; he was eventually transported by …
Interview No. 1365, Efrén Pacheco A.
Interview No. 1365, Efrén Pacheco A.
Combined Interviews
Mr. Pacheco briefly talks about his family; in 1956, when he was twenty-one, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; he went through the contracting center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, where he waited for roughly ten days; he paid to sleep in a hotel during that time; those who did not have money slept outside; the men were loaded into trains without seats and transported to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México; they were forced to stand, and they did not stop for restroom breaks throughout the duration of the trip; once they arrived at the border, they had to stand …
Interview No. 1367, Ana María Perla
Interview No. 1367, Ana María Perla
Combined Interviews
Mrs. Perla talks about her family and the difficult financial situation they faced, which led to her father’s decision to enlist in the bracero program; she remembers getting letters from him to let the family know how he was doing and how much he missed them; her mother even took a family portrait to send to him; Ana was especially excited, because she was able to get a new dress for the occasion; when he returned home, between contracts, he made dolls out of old rags for her to play with; he also enjoyed cooking for the family and making …
Interview No. 1368, Lorenzo Perla
Interview No. 1368, Lorenzo Perla
Combined Interviews
Mr. Perla talks about coming to work in the United States during the late 1940s without proper documentation; in 1949, while working in New Mexico, he was taken to El Paso, Texas to obtain documents through the bracero program; he describes the process he underwent in El Paso, including medical exams and delousing procedures, which made him feel like he was looked down upon; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Michigan, New Mexico and Texas, picking beets, cabbage, cotton, cucumbers and lettuce, and he completed three contracts; in addition, he worked as a cook and drove tractors; …
Interview No. 1369, Alfonso Ramirez
Interview No. 1369, Alfonso Ramirez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ramírez briefly talks about his family and what his life was like growing up on an ejido; when he was thirteen years old, he began working for a railroad company in Chihuahua, México; he also continued laboring in the fields and caring for the animals on the ejido; shortly after, his father enlisted in the bracero program and completed roughly six contracts in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas cleaning, pruning and picking beets and lettuce; in 1964, during the last year of the program, Alfonso also joined the program; he describes going through the contracting process in …
Interview No. 1370, Jaime Rivas
Interview No. 1370, Jaime Rivas
Combined Interviews
Mr. Rivas briefly talks about his family and what his life was like growing up; after completing his military service in 1959, he heard about the bracero program contracting in Empalme, Sonora, México, and he went with his brother; he explains that they waited for one month to pick the cotton; they needed to obtain papers to enlist, but they did not have any more money and had to leave; they paid three hundred pesos to get on another list of available workers in Durango, and they went though the contracting center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México; several thousand men were …
Interview No. 1372, Nicolás Rodríguez
Interview No. 1372, Nicolás Rodríguez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Rodríguez briefly talks about his family and what his life was like growing up; he recalls recruiters for the bracero program going to Culiacán, Sinaloa, México and giving out papers to enlist in Empalme, Sonora, México; at the time, he had a wife and children to support, and he decided to join the program; he describes the entire process he underwent in Empalme, including necessary documents, waiting for fifteen days and being stripped and medically examined; from there he was sent to the border at Calexico, California by train, where he endured further exams, including x-rays, injections and several …
Interview No. 1379, Francisco Uribe Ramos
Interview No. 1379, Francisco Uribe Ramos
Combined Interviews
Mr. Uribe traveled to Empalme to get hired in the bracero program. He brought with him his Mexican military ID and worked as a bracero until he was twenty-five. The first place where he worked was Gila Bend, Arizona and in Blythe, California picking cotton. The daily salary was $0.02 per pound, reaching $3.00 to $4.50 per day. During that time Uribe paid $15.00 for food. Mr. Uribe returned to the United States and worked without documentation in Avondale until a Border Patrol found him and sent him to jail in Phoenix. Uribe was later deported to Nogales. Years later, …
Interview No. 1344, Jesús Gallegos
Interview No. 1344, Jesús Gallegos
Combined Interviews
Mr. Gallegos recalls what it was like growing up in his hometown of Ecuandureo, Michoacán, México; when he was sixteen years old, he moved from Sinaloa to Sonora, México, to work; while there, he learned about the bracero program, because many men worked there to obtain papers for the workers’ lists in Empalme, Sonora; in 1961, he acquired the necessary documents, but he was too young and gave it away; the following year, he was able to go to the contracting center in Empalme, where he waited for three weeks to be called; he recounts how difficult it was there; …
Interview No. 1373, Alfonso Romero Hernández
Interview No. 1373, Alfonso Romero Hernández
Combined Interviews
Mr. Hernández briefly talks about his family; in 1958, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; he submitted his birth certificate and proof of military service in order to put himself on the local list of available workers; as part of the contracting process, he was stripped, medically examined and vaccinated; as a bracero, he completed four contracts and labored in the fields of Colorado and New México cleaning, pruning and picking beets and cotton; he goes on to detail the various worksites, housing, provisions, duties and remittances; while working in the beet fields of Greeley, Colorado, he had …