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Articles 361 - 390 of 1185
Full-Text Articles in Oral History
Interview No. 1364, Jorge Ortiz Marquez
Interview No. 1364, Jorge Ortiz Marquez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Ortiz talks about his family and what his life was like growing up; when he was eighteen, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; he describes the contracting process he went through in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, including the long waiting times and medical exams; from there he was transported in a cargo train to El Paso, Texas; he explains that roughly one thousand five hundred men were transferred daily; once in El Paso, he was taken to a center called Rio Vista, where he underwent further assessments and delousing procedures; afterward, he was fed, but the food had …
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. 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. 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 …
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. 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. 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. 1371, Lauro Rivas
Interview No. 1371, Lauro Rivas
Combined Interviews
Mr. Rivas recalls hearing people talk about the bracero program when he was young; he had great illusions of coming to the United States and having a better life; in 1957, when he was seventeen years old, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; he initially went through the contracting center in Empalme, Sonora, México, but he was unable to obtain a contract; later that same year, he went through the center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México; as part of the process, he had to present proof of military service, and he also endured medical exams, which included blood samples …
Interview No. 1383, Jesus G. Varela
Interview No. 1383, Jesus G. Varela
Combined Interviews
Mr. Varela started working with his father doing agricultural work and caring for animals. He got a job with a friend of his father learning carpentry and blacksmithing earning $0.40 per week. Mr. Varela found out about the bracero program listening to the radio in the town of Guadalupe Victoria. He traveled to Durango, Mexico to get hired in the bracero program when he was eighteen. With only $200 pesos Varela traveled on train to Guanajuato, Mexico. The next destination was El Paso, Texas where the authorities made another revision before continuing the journey to Caldwell, Idaho. Varela worked picking …
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. 1384, Lucio Vargas
Interview No. 1384, Lucio Vargas
Combined Interviews
Mr. Vargas began to work since he was eight years old with his father in the fields and taking care of animals. Mr. Vargas worked in the construction of the Panamerican highway trying to earn enough money for his family and himself. He worked without documentation in the United States when he was eighteen. At the age of twenty-three he heard about the bracero program and was hired in Juarez. At the same age, he married in Mexico and had a family of four daughters and four sons. Vargas traveled to El Paso, Texas, and was hired at Fort Bliss. …
Interview No. 1385, Alberto Vásquez Rojas
Interview No. 1385, Alberto Vásquez Rojas
Combined Interviews
Mr. Vásquez started working in the fields at a very young age. Vásquez found out about the bracero program and traveled to Empalme, Sonora to get hired. The next stop of the journey was Calexico Mexicali. Finally, Vásquez started work picking beets and oranges in Riverside, California. In 1957, Vásquez returned to Arizona as a bracero to pick cotton, lettuce, carrots and other vegetables. He received the American residency with the help of the company he worked with, called J. Wood Company. Mr. Vásquez worked thirty-one years with the same company. He received the foreman position and earned a salary …
Interview No. 1387, Julian Velazquez
Interview No. 1387, Julian Velazquez
Combined Interviews
Mr. Velazquez at the age of seven started taking care of animals and working in the agricultural fields. In 1950, he made the decision to travel to Juárez to find an opportunity to be hired in the bracero program. He paid $50 pesos to be hired and was moved the next day to El Paso, Texas. He received a contract to work picking cotton in the city of La Mesa, New Mexico, earning $0.40 an hour. Following that contract, Velazquez returned to the United States to work in the state of California picking strawberries. The next destination was Suinsun City, …
Interview No. 1595, Delia A. Pompa Nunez
Interview No. 1595, Delia A. Pompa Nunez
Combined Interviews
Ms. Pompa talks about living in Mexico with her mother while her father, Gildardo Espinoza Pompa, worked as a bracero in the United States; he labored in the fields of Arizona, California, Idaho, Texas and Wyoming picking various crops; her parents began filling out papers to immigrate to the United States in 1950, before Delia was born; while he was gone, her mother worked as primary school teacher; he often sent money by telegram, which her mother cashed at a local bank; in addition, he sent material, thread and needles to his wife for her sewing; once, when he returned …
Interview No. 1352, Alfredo López
Interview No. 1352, Alfredo López
Combined Interviews
Mr. López talks about his decision to enlist in the bracero program in 1958; in addition, he describes the process he went through to get the necessary paperwork before traveling to the contracting center in Empalme, Sonora, México; he estimates that there were between fifteen and twenty thousand men processed daily; they were organized by lists according to states; from there he was transported to Calexico, California, where he was medically examined and deloused; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Arizona and California cleaning, pruning, picking and packing cotton, lemon, lettuce, tomato and other citrus crops; he …
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 …