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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
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. 1331, Bernabé Álvarez Díaz
Interview No. 1331, Bernabé Álvarez Díaz
Combined Interviews
Mr. Álvarez talks about his family and childhood; in 1958, he paid to get his name on the list of eligible workers for the bracero program in Empalme, Sonora, México, but he was only cheated out of his money; later, in 1961, he paid again to get his name on the list, and five days later, he obtained a contract; consequently, he underwent rigorous medical exams while there; he comments that between the first and second time he went to Empalme, the city had grown tremendously, because thousands of people had to spend money while they were waiting there; as …
Interview No. 1366, Antonio H. Pérez Herrera
Interview No. 1366, Antonio H. Pérez Herrera
Combined Interviews
Mr. Pérez recalls his brother working as a bracero and being fascinated when he returned home with new clothes and a radio; Antonio later married at the age of twenty; he taught for a while but did not make very much money, which is why he decided to enlist as a bracero in 1964; in order to get on the list of available workers, he had to pay two hundred pesos; he explains that the fee was imposed by the person making the list, not the government; once on the list, he traveled to the contracting center in Empalme, Sonora, …
Interview No. 1594, Juanita Parra
Interview No. 1594, Juanita Parra
Combined Interviews
Ms. Parra discusses her family and her mother in particular; while picking crops in the United States, she was often caught and sent back to Mexico, which was especially traumatic; she could hear the bullets flying by as she ran away; her children hid in holes she previously dug, and she would come back for them the following day; she insisted on working, because she was trying to save enough money to begin the process for legal residency for herself and seven children; her sister’s husband was a successful businessman in Mexico, and she asked his brother to marry her; …
Interview No. 1596, Elio J. Pompa
Interview No. 1596, Elio J. Pompa
Combined Interviews
Mr. Pompa briefly talks about his father’s work with the bracero program; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas; in 1958, when Elio was roughly two and a half years old, the family immigrated to the United States; he remembers they traveled seasonally with other families and groups of braceros; by the time he was five years old, he was working in the fields with women and other children; his father regularly labored in a different field and on occasion in a different camp altogether; Elio explains that in Casa Grande, Arizona …
Interview No. 1349, María Soledad Herrera De Reyes
Interview No. 1349, María Soledad Herrera De Reyes
Combined Interviews
Ms. Herrera de Reyes talks about her family and growing up in her half brother’s home; she was raised with several half siblings, and her mother cared for all of them; when María was still a baby, her father enlisted in the bracero program; while he was gone her mother sold tortillas and worked as a seamstress to supplement their income; María also recalls her day-to-day life with her mother and grandfather; upon her father’s return, he brought his wife and daughters undergarments from the United States, but his wife did not like them; he also bought a lot of …
Interview No. 1358, Valentín Murillo Ortiz
Interview No. 1358, Valentín Murillo Ortiz
Combined Interviews
Mr. Murillo briefly talks about his family and what life was like growing up on an ejido; in 1955, he decided to enlist in the bracero program and went through the contracting center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México; he recalls the entire process, including lists of eligible workers, waiting times, and transportation to and from the center; in addition, he mentions going through centers in Empalme, Sonora and Monterrey, Nuevo León, México; he was also briefly examined at the centers and again, in more detail, at the border; although he suffered greatly during processing, once he began working in the United …
Interview No. 1377, Petra Sanchez
Interview No. 1377, Petra Sanchez
Combined Interviews
Mrs. Sanchez had seven sibling and all went to school but she had to repeat first grade because her reading and writing. She was married in Durango, Mexico and then moved to El Paso with her family. Her husband was hired as a bracero working in cotton fields, all his family lived there because they did not need to pay for the house and utilities. He did the bracero hiring process for the Bracero Program in Juárez with the help of the “patron”, once he was bracero, his salary was $2.25 per hour and he worked Monday to Saturday, 8 …
Interview No. 1375, Francisco Sáenz
Interview No. 1375, Francisco Sáenz
Combined Interviews
Mr. Sáenz talks about growing up on a ranch with his family, and he shares several stories about his life in México; in 1951, he married, and he started a family soon after; a few years later, in 1956, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; he went through the contracting center in Empalme, Sonora, México and recounts the entire process, including the various requirements and long waiting times; from there he traveled by train to the border in Mexicali, Baja California, México, where he was stripped, examined and deloused, which he describes as very aggressive; as a bracero, …
Interview No. 1376, María De La Luz Saenz
Interview No. 1376, María De La Luz Saenz
Combined Interviews
Mrs. Saenz describes her childhood as being very sad due to her mother’s illness and her father being away for so long; as a child Mrs. Saenz remembers having to help out her mother around the house as much as she could in order to ease her mothers workload; in 1941 her mother became very ill and was hospitalized for a year and a half, Mrs. Saenz states that her brothers and sisters were raised by her father and her grandmother; in 1945 her father became a bracero in order to get money to be able to pay for her …
Interview No. 1359, Margarita Murillo
Interview No. 1359, Margarita Murillo
Combined Interviews
Ms. Murillo talks about growing up with her sister and two half brothers; when Margarita was only a few years old, her father, Federico Herrera, enlisted in the bracero program; he labored in the fields and on the railroads; while he was gone, they stayed with different relatives on her mother’s side, because they did not have a home; her aunt often gave them supplies like food and soap, because they did not have anything; her mother cleaned, washed and sewed to earn money; eventually, her father was able to send enough money for them to rent a small adobe …
Interview No. 1327, Ramona Acosta
Interview No. 1327, Ramona Acosta
Combined Interviews
Ms. Acosta vividly describes her family and childhood; when she was roughly five years old, her father was deported, and as a result, the family moved to México; eight years later, Ramona returned to the United States at the bidding of her maternal grandparents; shortly thereafter, she started working in order to help support her family, including her parents, who were still in México; she labored in the fields picking and packing a variety of fruits and vegetables; although she had several employers, she explains that braceros and locals worked side by side; they had the same types of jobs …
Interview No. 1340, Catalino Díaz Villa
Interview No. 1340, Catalino Díaz Villa
Combined Interviews
Mr. Díaz describes his family and what his life was like growing up; when he was roughly thirty-five years old, he wanted to join the bracero program; his parents were reluctant to let him go; they thought he was too naïve, especially because he could not read, and they did not trust the United States; in spite of their worries, with his uncle’s help and a few of his cousins, he enlisted near Iguala [de la Independencia], Guerrero, México; he details the contracting center he went through in Empalme, Sonora, and the difficulties he faced while there; more specifically, he …
Interview No. 1362, Eva R. Ortiz
Interview No. 1362, Eva R. Ortiz
Combined Interviews
Ms. Ortiz talks about her family and what her life was like growing up; as a young woman she began dating Manuel Ortiz Orozco, whom she knew from the ranch where they were both raised; in 1955, he enlisted in the bracero program; she was happy that he joined, because it was of great help, especially given that the harvests were so undependable; they often wrote love letters to each other; when he and other men were gone their fields were abandoned, and the women and children did the best they could; after he returned from his first contract, they …
Interview No. 1363, Manuel Ortiz Orozco
Interview No. 1363, Manuel Ortiz Orozco
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ortiz briefly talks about his family and childhood; his older brothers enlisted in the bracero program, and in 1955, he also joined; he went through the contracting center in his hometown of Chihuahua, which he explains was called El Trocadero; if men did not have the proper documentation, they had to pay seventy-five pesos; the men were also examined by American doctors and asked questions about working the land; they were transported to El Paso, Texas in trains used to haul metal; consequently, upon arriving, they were all black and dirty; afterward, they were deloused, which he describes as …
Interview No. 1374, Claro Ruiz Ortíz
Interview No. 1374, Claro Ruiz Ortíz
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ortíz talks about his family and what his life was like growing up; in 1956, he decided to enlist in the bracero program, because there was no work in México; he went through the contracting center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, and he describes the process as very long and sad; thousands of men were waiting, and they were divided into groups, stripped and examined altogether in a large room; he explains that if he had proof he had already worked as a bracero, he was able to pass through more quickly; from there, he was transferred in a cargo …
Interview No. 1378, Pedro Torres
Interview No. 1378, Pedro Torres
Combined Interviews
Mr. Torres twenty traveled to Chihuahua to get hired in the Bracero Program. Mr. Torres took a train called “El Pollero” in the city of Gomez Palacio and traveled to Chihuahua, Chihuahua. The most difficult part of the journey was in Chihuahua. The conditions of the train were very poorly. Finally they arrived at the recruitment center in Rio Vista, California where they had some medical examinations. Torres traveled without documents just with his Mexican military ID. Torres worked picking cotton in Texas and New Mexico with a salary of $0.05 per pound of cotton. He returned to work as …
Interview No. 1328, José Esequiel Adame
Interview No. 1328, José Esequiel Adame
Combined Interviews
Mr. Adame very briefly describes his family and childhood; he recalls going to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, with his father and brother, to enlist as braceros; in order to be allowed into the contracting center, they had to pay, and even then they still had to stay there for a week, and sometimes even longer; they also had to spend money just to sleep on the floor of a hotel while they waited for a contract; once called, they were stripped and medically examined; from there they were transported by cargo train to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México, and then taken to …
Interview No. 1337, Natividad Cano
Interview No. 1337, Natividad Cano
Combined Interviews
Ms. Cano very vividly describes her family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins, and what her childhood was like; her father, Alberto Valenzuela, worked for a rancher in México, and they often came to the United States to sell livestock; the rancher knew people who worked for the bracero program, and he recommended Alberto; in 1943, he traveled by train to Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, to enlist in the program, and he took his ID, birth certificate, and letters of recommendation with him; he worked primarily in southern Arizona with livestock, and he sent money home as often as he could; upon …
Interview No. 1350, Selerina Landeros
Interview No. 1350, Selerina Landeros
Combined Interviews
Mrs. Landeros briefly mentions her family; she describes meeting and marrying her husband, Dionisio Landeros, in 1937; in addition, she talks about the agrarian reform that led to the land distribution in which her father, brothers and husband obtained land; later, in 1943, Dionisio decided to enlist in the bracero program; he initially signed up for the program in León, Guanajuato, México before traveling to Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México to begin the contracting process; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of California picking almonds and oranges until 1945; his first contract took him to Sacramento, California to pick almonds …