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Interview No. 964, Bárbaro Chacón Delgado
Interview No. 964, Bárbaro Chacón Delgado
Combined Interviews
By the time Mr. Chacón became a bracero in 1946, thousands of people from the south of México had arrived in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, to begin the hiring process; from Chihuahua, people were sent to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas; the ranchers came to Fort Bliss to take as many braceros as they needed for work; he recalls that as a direct consequence of World War II, people in the United States suffered from food shortages and other such difficulties; he also remembers that although he never personally suffered from racist aggressions or discrimination, groups like the Ku Klux Klan …
Interview No. 1055, Jesús Zamarrón
Interview No. 1055, Jesús Zamarrón
Combined Interviews
Mr. Zamarrón recalls his childhood in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México, and his field work with his father at an early age; he recalls that he received one year of formal education; at age eighteen, he worked in construction, and he remembers how he had to cut stones; he relates how he was hired as a bracero, and his trip to the United States; in the Bracero Program from 1957 to 1966, he recounts what his daily life was like, and how the work was carried out; he also discusses how the braceros got along with each other, …
Interview No. 1058, J. Guadalupe Verdín Arriaga
Interview No. 1058, J. Guadalupe Verdín Arriaga
Combined Interviews
Mr. Verdín recalls growing up in Purísima del Rincón, Guanajuato, México, and working with his father in the fields; he remembers receiving formal education up to the fifth grade; he joined the Bracero Program in 1959, and relates his experience during the hiring process; additionally, he discusses how he was chosen to be a cook in the bracero camps, and what his life was like as a bracero; he also worked in Arizona and California picking cotton; these activities he did until 1967; after the Bracero Program ended, he returned to the United States as an undocumented worker; he describes …
Interview No. 1059, Filiberto Villaseñor Ocampo
Interview No. 1059, Filiberto Villaseñor Ocampo
Combined Interviews
Mr. Villaseñor recalls growing up in Tizapotla, Morelos, México; his father was a baker, but he remembers never having had an interest for the profession; at the age of twelve, he states that he helped his father work in the fields; he describes his childhood as being very hard economically, and talks about the work he did as a youth; he details how he found out about the Bracero Program, and what the hiring process was like when he went through it in 1955; additionally, he relates his experience at the contracting centers in Empalme, Sonora, México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México, …
Interview No. 1047, Vicente Ayala Arizmendi
Interview No. 1047, Vicente Ayala Arizmendi
Combined Interviews
Mr. Arizmendi recalls working in the fields of Tizapotla at an early age; he states that he never had the chance to attend formal schooling, and he learned to read and write as an adult; he describes joining the Bracero Program in 1956 after losing his crops and cattle; additionally, he details the work he did in Billings, Montana and California; he remembers working at a cannery, and picking corn, grapes, lemons, nuts, and pears; furthermore, he continues to explain why he labored as an undocumented worker after the program was terminated; he also discusses the problems he had with …
Interview No. 1056, José Ramírez Solano
Interview No. 1056, José Ramírez Solano
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ramírez recalls growing up in Tizapotla, Morelos, México, and working from an early age on a farm; he remembers attending school to the third grade; later, he relates how he heard about the Bracero Program from men who went to the United States during the first years of the program; he joined the program in 1960, and describes the hiring process he went through in Empalme, Sonora, México; additionally, he details discrimination braceros suffered in Empalme and in the U.S.; he highlights how they were kicked out of church services, and how priest set up mass in Spanish for …
Interview No. 1786, Ana Marie Koch
Interview No. 1786, Ana Marie Koch
Combined Interviews
Ana Marie Koch resided in Canutillo, Texas for most of her life, and she recalls her childhood memories about the town. Koch remembers her family history; her father had many occupations before buying a store in Canutillo called Central Market. As a child, Koch attended Lone Star Elementary; she sometimes arrived late to school from lunch break because she purposely hid in bushes near the school; she also explains some afterschool activities such as, going to church and playing house with dried red chilies; when she was ten, Koch would work at her dad’s store, and passed the time by …
Interview No. 1065, Alberto De Loera
Interview No. 1065, Alberto De Loera
Combined Interviews
Mr. de Loera recalls his childhood and adolescence; in 1959, he decided to enroll in the Bracero Program; in order to begin the hiring process, he traveled from Aguascalientes to Empalme, Sonora, México; once he arrived at the processing center in Empalme, he underwent medical exams, including blood samples and x-rays; he also mentions that he was deloused and stripped in front of others as part of the medical procedures; upon being hired, he was transported by cargo train to the border along with thousands of other workers; the train had wooden benches, and he comments that the ride made …
Interview No. 1050, Gregorio Flores P.
Interview No. 1050, Gregorio Flores P.
Combined Interviews
Mr. Flores recalls growing up in Tepoztlán, Morelos, México; he states that, after one year of formal schooling, he worked with his father doing farming chores; additionally, he remembers working in construction as a young man; he discusses being a bracero from 1959 to 1961; furthermore, he talks about his time picking melons in Arizona, fruits and vegetables in California and cotton in Texas; he details his time as an undocumented worker in Virginia and Dallas from 1980 to 1985; moreover, he compares what life was like for him as a bracero with what he experienced as an undocumented worker.
Interview No. 1054, Miguel Ortega
Interview No. 1054, Miguel Ortega
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ortega recalls his childhood in Miacatlán, Morelos, México; he states that when he was twelve years old, he began working with his father in sugar cane fields; additionally, he remembers that he moved to Empalme, Sonora, México in 1957 to secure a bracero contract; he relates the help he received there while waiting to enlist in the program, and the process he encountered at the contracting center; furthermore, he remembers his trip to the United States-México border, and how he was treated at the processing center in El Centro, California; he details how the fumigation process was carried out, …
Interview No. 1049, Eleuterio Flores G.
Interview No. 1049, Eleuterio Flores G.
Combined Interviews
Mr. Flores describes his childhood in Miacatlán, Morelos, México, and his lack of formal schooling; he relates that his father taught him to read and write; he also recalls his time in the Ingenio Azucarero, a sugar cane plantation; additionally, he discusses how his experience with the plantation helped him secure work as a bracero; furthermore, he remembers that, in 1956, he got permission from his work to join the Bracero Program; he details the work he did in California and Texas, and states that he picked cotton and gathered several other crops.
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. 1051, Sebastián Jaimes Gutiérrez
Interview No. 1051, Sebastián Jaimes Gutiérrez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Jaimes recalls his childhood and his early work in the fields; he explains how he attended school with a private teacher, and when two of his siblings died; additionally, he details his experiences before becoming a bracero, and how he once refused to marry a rich girl because he was poor; he discusses how he sold candies to survive in Empalme, Sonora, México while waiting to receive his first bracero contract; in 1952, he was hired as a bracero; he worked in Arizona and California; he states that, when his first contract was up, he returned to México and …
Interview No. 1057, Bernardo Treviño Cervantes
Interview No. 1057, Bernardo Treviño Cervantes
Combined Interviews
Mr. Treviño recalls his childhood in Saltillo, Coahuila, México, and his work as a child on the farm; he remembers going through the hiring process in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, México, and signing his contract in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México; additionally, he describes his trip to the border, and being sprayed with pesticide at the United States-México border; he states that he worked as a bracero until 1964 in Michigan and Texas; there, he picked and irrigated cotton and cut cucumbers; furthermore, he details what his daily activities were like, and the good treatment he received in the United States; he relates …
Interview No. 1052, Víctor Martínez A.
Interview No. 1052, Víctor Martínez A.
Combined Interviews
Mr. Martínez recalls growing up in Miacatlán, Morelos, México; he remembers that, as a child, he helped his family with farming chores; they harvested corn, peanuts, and rice for self consumption and profit; he states that he stopped attending school at an early age due to the ill treatment he received from his teacher, and that he learned to read and write as an adult; additionally he discusses how his father opposed him going to the United States for work; due to this, he hired a coyote to take him to Empalme, Sonora, México so he could enlist in the …
Interview No. 1048, Felipe Corona
Interview No. 1048, Felipe Corona
Combined Interviews
Mr. Corona recalls the death of his father when he was eight years old, and how he helped his mother to sell rice in towns around Mazatepec, Morelos, México; he states that later he labored in sugar cane fields; additionally, he remembers that, in 1943, he was hired as a bracero, but decided to stay in México out of fear of what would happen in the United States due to the Second World War; he details why he signed up again for the Bracero Program in 1955, and discusses the treatment he received as a bracero; additionally, he details how …
Interview No. 988, Andrés Héctor Quezada Lara
Interview No. 988, Andrés Héctor Quezada Lara
Combined Interviews
Mr. Quezada quit school in order to go to the United States and work as a bracero; he was hired in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, but was sent to Querétaro, Querétaro to sign the job contract; his first contract took him to work in the Chicago Milwaukee Pacific Union railroads; after working there, he was sent to Kansas to work in the fields; while there, he organized a meeting to ask for better salary for the braceros; their pay was increased from 50¢ to 90¢ per hour; he was then sent to work in Missouri, where he had an accident while …
Interview No. 966, Raúl Enriquez González
Interview No. 966, Raúl Enriquez González
Combined Interviews
Mr. Enríquez recalls the privileges the people from Chihuahua, México, enjoyed during the hiring process; he raised cattle and worked in the cotton fields of the same ranch for six years; the ranchers he worked for spoke Spanish, and the rancher’s wife would bring him lunch while he was out working in the fields; although he also worked in Arizona and Texas, working in Colorado was the best experience he had as a bracero.
Interview No. 970, Socorro Flores Pando
Interview No. 970, Socorro Flores Pando
Combined Interviews
When Mr. Flores began the hiring process in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, he was asked for a Mexican military ID and a recommendation letter; he came to the United States as a bracero when he was only eighteen years old; upon entering the United States, he was sent to El Paso, Texas, and then to Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, for a physical examination; while there, he signed a job contract and was sent to the ranch where he would work; he worked in Fort Stockton, Texas, for seven months watering the fields; his weekly salary was $116.00.
Interview No. 980, Gonzalo Morales
Interview No. 980, Gonzalo Morales
Combined Interviews
Mr. Morales briefly recounts his childhood; in 1954, he heard about the Bracero Program; due to financial difficulties, he decided to go to Chihuahua, Chihuahua México, to begin the hiring process; he recalls how the Mexican President, Lázaro Cárdenas, prohibited people on ejidos from being hired as braceros; only people from ranches were allowed to be braceros; while working as a bracero he was unaware that the Mexican government received 10¢ per bracero that was hired from the ranchers; while waiting in Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, the food the braceros were given was rotten; the water …
Interview No. 981, Guadalupe Nuñez
Interview No. 981, Guadalupe Nuñez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Núñez recalls that during his enrollment process in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, there were only Mexican officers present; there were no American representatives; in addition, there were no exams or contracts given there; the United States government paid the Mexican government about 27¢ for each bracero that was hired; it was when they were moved to Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, that they were medically examined and signed contracts; he recalls that it was the last year of the program; his work contract lasted only three months, and took him to work in the cotton fields of …
Interview No. 989, Jesús Rodríguez Méndez
Interview No. 989, Jesús Rodríguez Méndez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Rodríguez learned of the Bracero Program while living in his hometown of Guerrero, Chihuahua, México; he traveled to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, in order to begin the enrollment process; he had to wait for two weeks to be called; during this time, he did not have money or a place to stay; he recalls that people coming from southern México waited for months at El Trocadero, the processing center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, to be hired; when the braceros were officially hired, the United States government paid the Mexican government 10¢ per bracero; in 1963, he was hired and sent to work …
Interview No. 967, Elías Espino
Interview No. 967, Elías Espino
Combined Interviews
Mr. Espino was first hired in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he worked for a year; during his time as a bracero he worked in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona; he recounts his difficulties while working illegally; he also recalls the percentage the Mexican government received from the United States for each bracero worker; he lead a protest to stop the delousing process for braceros entering the United States; in addition, he also remembers that the Bracero Program was suspended for an entire year in 1959.
Interview No. 973, Mauro González Gómez
Interview No. 973, Mauro González Gómez
Combined Interviews
In 1947, Mr. González worked illegally in the United States; when he learned of the Bracero Program he returned to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, to begin the hiring process; while there, people were given the necessary papers to be hired as braceros; he recalls that the bracero center in El Paso, Texas, was the County Coliseum; people with less experience were sent to work in Pecos, Texas; he also recalls one bracero who was a Mexican soldier that liked to play poker; because of his gambling habits, he once killed another bracero who had won his money.
Interview No. 986, Roberto Ponce Covarrubias
Interview No. 986, Roberto Ponce Covarrubias
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ponce and his brother decided to enroll in the Bracero Program due to their family’s financial difficulties; when they were taken to Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, they were deloused and given a blood test; they were offered help when filling out work contracts; Mr. Ponce’s first work contract took him to Las Cruces, New Mexico; the worst place he worked was Lamesa, Texas; he recalls that the graveyards near the ranch were said to have been for the braceros; he sent money to his family via certified mail.
Interview No. 1005, Felipe Hernández Zapata
Interview No. 1005, Felipe Hernández Zapata
Combined Interviews
Mr. Hernández briefly recalls his family, childhood, and early adolescence; the poverty he experienced growing up coupled with his desire to earn money and have a better life led him to enroll in the Bracero Program in 1952; he chronicles the hiring and contracting process he went through in Durango, Durango, México, including the requirements for enlisting and the medical exams he endured; from there he was transported to the border via bus; as a bracero, he worked in Texas, picking cotton, grapefruits, oranges, and peas; he explains how the various tasks were carried out, the different events that transpired …
Interview No. 1017, Alejandro Ruteaga Rivas
Interview No. 1017, Alejandro Ruteaga Rivas
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ruteaga recalls his childhood and the stories his father told about the Mexican Revolution; in 1953, he entered the Bracero Program; he describes the hiring process in Durango, Durango, México, the requirements, and the medical exams performed by American doctors at Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas; he worked in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming; additionally, he recounts daily activities, what braceros did on weekends, their contracts, and their wages; he states that ranchers hired undocumented workers along with braceros; furthermore, he relates how representatives from the Mexican consulate visited …
Interview No. 1021, Gonzalo Soto Núñez
Interview No. 1021, Gonzalo Soto Núñez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Soto grew up in Otáez, Durango, México; in 1954, he joined the Bracero Program; he worked in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas; recalling the hiring process, he discusses the contracting center in Mexicali, Baja California, México; he describes the medical exams performed by Mexican and American doctors, and the bracero reception center in El Centro, California; additionally, he remembers their daily activities, their housing, the food they ate and their curfew; he also details the kinds of contracts they had, the wages they got, and the treatment they received from foremen; furthermore, he relates what the relationship between braceros …
Interview No. 1019, David Salcido Martínez
Interview No. 1019, David Salcido Martínez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Salcido remembers a hard childhood that forced him to work at an early age so he could help his family economically; these hardships led him to enlist in the Bracero Program in 1964; he worked in Colorado cleaning sugar beet fields; additionally, he describes the hiring process, the contracting center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, the difficulties he endured there, and the train trip to the México-United States border in cattle cars; furthermore, he explains how the reception center in El Paso, Texas worked, the disinfection procedures they endured and the signing of his contract; he continues to recount the …
Interview No. 1025, José Isidro Vidaña Canales
Interview No. 1025, José Isidro Vidaña Canales
Combined Interviews
Mr. Vidaña grew up with his mother after his father, a general in the Mexican Revolution, died; he remembers the Cristero Revolution, and explains why the conflict began; a bracero from 1942 to 1960, he worked in Arkansas, California, Michigan, Texas, and Washington; he describes the hiring process at the contracting center in Durango, Durango, México; additionally, he discusses the medical exams he endured, a train trip he took to the border, and his time at Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas; he recalls their arrival at a military camp in Washington state, their daily activities on a …