Oral History Commons^™

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

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. 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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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 With Patrick Leahy By Brien Williams, Patrick J. Leahy

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Patrick Joseph Leahy was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on March 31, 1940. He was graduated from Saint Michael’s College in 1961 and Georgetown Law in 1964. Beginning in 1966, he was elected to four consecutive terms as Vermont state’s attorney in Chittenden County. At the age of 34, he became the youngest U.S. senator ever elected by Vermont, and he is the only elected Democrat from Vermont ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. During the 1980s, he was vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. At …

Interview With Dick Gephardt And Tom O’Donnell By Diane Dewhirst, Richard 'Dick' A. Gephardt, Thomas 'Tom' J. O'Donnell

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Richard Andrew “Dick” Gephardt was born on January 31, 1941, in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a B.S. from Northwestern University in 1962 and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1965. He was active in local Democratic politics and city government until 1976, when he was elected the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Missouri’s 3rd District until 2004, when he retired from the House and sought, unsuccessfully, the Democratic nomination for president, a nomination he also sought but failed to win in 1977. He served as House majority leader from 1989 to 1995 …

Interview With Dennis G. Payne, Jasse Chimuku

Black United Front Oral History Project

Interview with Dennis Payne by Jasse Chimuku on February 23, 2010, in Portland, Oregon.

Dennis discusses his time at Portland State University almost entirely. He gives a detailed description of his family genealogy, including the migration through Montana of his father and mother. The story of his grandparents living in Wyoming and ultimately in Harding, Montana is rich with detail of Black family life in the area during the early twentieth century.

The bulk of the interview highlights the struggle of Black students while he attended college. The Black Power movement on a nationwide basis was in full swing at …

Interview With Sandy Maisel By Mike Hastings, L. Sandy Maisel

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Louis "Sandy" Maisel was born on October 25, 1945, in Buffalo, New York. He attended Harvard, where he became involved with various campus and political organizations, and Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. in political science. In 1971 he settled in Maine, working on Bill Hathaway’s campaign for Senate, teaching at Colby College, and volunteering for Maine Democrats, including George Mitchell. In 1977, Maisel was the research director for the House Commission on Administrative Review. In 1978, he ran unsuccessfully in the congressional primary in Maine. At the time of this interview he was professor of government …

Interview With George And Margaret Isaacson By Andrea L’Hommedieu, George S. Isaacson, Margaret M. Isaacson

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
George Steven Isaacson was born in New York on October 20, 1948, and grew up in Auburn, Maine. His father worked in a lumber business in Livermore Falls with his uncles. George was graduated from Bowdoin College and attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met his future wife, Margaret. After graduating, he clerked for Judge Thomas E. Delahanty and then went to work for a law firm in Portland, Maine. George Mitchell interviewed him for an attorney’s position with Jensen Baird law firm. At the time of this interview, he was a senior partner …

Interview No. 1477, Adam Nieto

Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project

From the age of 12 until he was 15 years old, Adam Nieto worked a paper route to earn extra money for his family. After high school, Adam left El Paso for Los Angeles for two years to work, however in 1965, the draft system caught up with Adam and at the age of 21, he was drafted by the United States Army into the Vietnam War. In 1967, after his time in the military, Adam enrolled at The University of Texas at El Paso and spent four years working on his B.A. in Education. Adam was able to use …

Interview No. 1630, James L. Hayden

Combined Interviews

As a career soldier, Hayden spent the better part of his life in the Army; in this interview he recalls his experiences as a fourth-generation West Point graduate, his service both in the Army Constabulary in immediate post-World War II Germany and in Korea during the Korean War, his responsibilities at White Sands Missile Range under Wernher von Braun, and his recent volunteer work as a West Point admissions advisor. Born in 1923 in New York, Hayden was expected from birth to attend West Point; indeed, his father was an instructor there at the time. Although he applied in 1940, …

Interview With Andrea Maker By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Andrea C. Maker

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Andrea (Cianchette) Maker was born in 1956 in Waterville, Maine, and grew up in Pittsfield, Maine. She came from a large, politically active family of both Democrats and Republicans. Her family’s construction business, Cianbro, evolved and grew during her childhood. While in college in New Hampshire, Maker interned for Bill Cohen. She attended the University of Maine School of Law for two years, then completed her third year at American University in Washington, D.C. During her third year of law school she worked for Senator Mitchell in the mailroom, drafting responses to atypical letters. After law school, Maker …

Interview With Joyce Braden Harris, Heather Oriana Petrocelli, Parvaneh Abbaspour

Black United Front Oral History Project

Interview with Joyce Braden Harris by Parvaneh Abbaspour and Heather Oriana Petrocelli on March 10, 2010, in Portland, Oregon.

Joyce discusses her work in education.

Interview With Pauline Bradford, Tasha Triplett

Black United Front Oral History Project

Interview with Pauline Bradford by Tasha Triplett and Patrice Mays, March 9^th, 2010, at Pauline Bradford’s home in Portland, Oregon.

Pauline discusses her continuing involvement with the Harriet Tubman Club, one of many member clubs of the Oregon and National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. These clubs played important roles both locally and nationally in improving interracial relations and promoting civic engagement and uplift within African American communities.

Interview With Deborah Cochrane, Christopher H. Riser

Black United Front Oral History Project

Interview with Deborah Cochrane by Chris Riser on March 8, 2010, in the Portland Teachers’ Program office on the Portland Community College Cascade Campus.

Deborah describes her experiences working at the Whitney Young Learning Center and being the director of the Portland Teacher's Program.