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Articles 2371 - 2400 of 5519

Full-Text Articles in Oral History

Pierre Allaire, Pierre Allaire, James B. Crooks May 2008

Pierre Allaire, Pierre Allaire, James B. Crooks

Creating a University: UNF Oral History Project

UNF Oral History Project Interview of Pierre Allaire by James B. Crooks on May 23, 2008

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James Hughes Interview, Professor Emeritus, Department Of English, Wright State University, Lewis Shupe, James Hughes May 2008

James Hughes Interview, Professor Emeritus, Department Of English, Wright State University, Lewis Shupe, James Hughes

Wright State University Retirees Association Oral History Project

Lewis Shupe interviewed James Hughes on May 22, 2008 about the founding of Wright State University and the development of the English program. In the interview Dr. Hughes discusses his career and his decision to come to Wright State as a founding faculty member.

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Interview No. 1601, Esteban Chavez May 2008

Interview No. 1601, Esteban Chavez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Chavez recalls that in 1943 he tried to go as a bracero but was rejected because of his age; once he turned eighteen he was contracted along with his two older brothers; he recalls it taking two days to sign his contract, consequently they slept on the floor near the train; he recalls the health check by Mexican doctors, having their hands inspected, and being disinfected for lice; he recalls working in El Paso, making .40 cents a pound, and driving large machinery; he remembers fifty men sleeping in a barrack, using the river to bathe, and not having …

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Interview No. 1399, Rodolfo Balderrama Apr 2008

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 …

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Interview With John Chester - Vhp 080, John Chester Apr 2008

Interview With John Chester - Vhp 080, John Chester

Winthrop University Oral History Program

In his April 3, 2008 interview with Kristin Malone, John Chester details his service overseas in Europe during WWII. Included are stories of interactions with German soldiers and the rules and regulations of the United States Military. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.

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Interview No. 1400, Ezequiel García Apr 2008

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 …

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The Avenger - April-May 2008, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum Apr 2008

The Avenger - April-May 2008, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

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Interview No. 1624, J. Halbert Gambrell Mar 2008

Interview No. 1624, J. Halbert Gambrell

Combined Interviews

In this interview, J. Halbert (“Hal”) Gambrell shares his memories of his colorful family, early El Paso, and his military experiences during both World War II and the Korean War. Born in El Paso in 1920, Gambrell entered this world in the family home due to his physician father’s decision to avoid local hospitals overflowing with Spanish Influenza patients. His father had recently returned from service in France during World War I; earlier he had served under General Jack “Black” Pershing during the latter’s 1916 punitive expedition into Mexico in Pershing’s ill-fated attempt to capture Pancho Villa. Gambrell continues to …

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Interview No. 1633, Frank W. Gorman Jr. Mar 2008

Interview No. 1633, Frank W. Gorman Jr.

Combined Interviews

Frank W. Gorman, Jr. was born in El Paso on June 20, 1924. His parents were Frank Gorman and Eloise Knotts. His father was from Chattanooga, TN, and his mother was from Lucas, TX, but had been raised in Mexico. He describes his grandfather’s mining work in Durango and Guanajuato during the Mexican Revolution. Mr. Gorman’s father was a Lieutenant during WWI, and met Eloise in El Paso when he came to start a supply company. Mr. Gorman attended El Paso High School and then served in the Navy, but the war ended before he could be sent overseas. After …

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Interview No. 1637, Louis B. Mckee Mar 2008

Interview No. 1637, Louis B. Mckee

Combined Interviews

Louis B. McKee is the son of Robert E. McKee, founder of the R. E. McKee General Contractors in El Paso, TX; he was born in El Paso in 1933; and graduated from Austin High School; he explains why he went to University of New Mexico, and studied civil engineering; he mentions completing Navy ROTC, being a Marine Corps Officer a few years; he recounts his family, working for the family’s construction company; he reveals why he later quit the company, disagreed with the direction of new non-family leadership that didn’t have the experience; he mentions the company was moved …

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Interview No. 1422, Luis Zamudio Mar 2008

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 …

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Interview No. 1628, Ariel Rodriguez Mar 2008

Interview No. 1628, Ariel Rodriguez

Combined Interviews

Dr. Rodriguez recalls time while in the Army, went to Vietnam to work in a field hospital for a year, also worked in civilian ones; he describes later duties at Ft. Bragg, NC, then Puerto Rico; he mentions service during the invasion of the Dominican Republic; he recalls coming to El Paso in 1969, describes the conditions at William Beaumont Army Hospital during its building. He recounts how he became the Associate Dean at Texas Tech Medical; he goes over the interview process and his office; he describes the programs he developed, setting up clinicals for students; he states that …

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Interview With John Tucker, Paul Hillmer Feb 2008

Interview With John Tucker, Paul Hillmer

Hmong Oral History Project

John Tucker was born in Akron, Ohio in 1945. An eagle scout, he was given the opportunity to travel the world, which fueled his international perspective. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 1967 and then joined the Peace Corps. He was assigned to Thailand where he spent three years working on a malaria eradication program. While there he was recruited by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He spent the early part of his career working for USAID in Laos and Thailand as a refugee Relief and Resettlement Officer. He was one of 15 USAID employees in …

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Kathleen Cohen, Kathleen Ann Francis Cohen, James B. Crooks Feb 2008

Kathleen Cohen, Kathleen Ann Francis Cohen, James B. Crooks

Creating a University: UNF Oral History Project

UNF Oral History Project Interview of Kathleen Cohen by James B. Crooks on February 8, 2008

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Emil Kmetec Interview, Professor Emeritus, College Of Science And Mathematics, Wright State University, Lewis Shupe, Emil Kmetec Feb 2008

Emil Kmetec Interview, Professor Emeritus, College Of Science And Mathematics, Wright State University, Lewis Shupe, Emil Kmetec

Wright State University Retirees Association Oral History Project

Lewis Shupe interviewed Emil Kmetec on February 7, 2008 about the founding of Wright State University and the development of the College of Science and Mathematics. In the interview Dr. Kmetec discusses his career and his decision to come to Wright State as a founding faculty member.

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Interview With Kao Kalia Yang, Paul Hillmer Jan 2008

Interview With Kao Kalia Yang, Paul Hillmer

Hmong Oral History Project

Kao Kalia Yang was born in Ban Vinai refugee camp and came with her family to Minnesota in July 1987, when she was six years old. Attending school in St. Paul and graduating from Harding High School, Yang was accepted at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, and went on to earn an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University. In 2008 Coffee House Press published her memoir, The Latehomecomer, which tells the story of her family in Laos, the refugee camps of Thailand, and their new life in Minnesota. Central to this story is Yang’s grandmother, who embodies the …

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Interview No. 1347, Alejandro Hernández Jan 2008

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 …

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Interview No. 1380, Cecilio V. Rodriguez Jan 2008

Interview No. 1380, Cecilio V. Rodriguez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Rodriguez worked with his father picking cotton, corn, beans, and peanuts when he was a child. Rodriguez obtained a letter to get hired in the bracero program when he was in Obregon, Sonora. At the age of eighteen, he entered to the United States through Nogales. He picked cotton in Avondale, Arizona and returned to work as a bracero the following year in Stockton, California. Rodriguez worked picking tomatoes in Stockton and earned a salary of $8.00 per week. He was hired for the last time in 1962 in San Benito, California and worked picking tomatoes for Heinz Company. …

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Interview No. 1386, Jose S. Velazquez Jan 2008

Interview No. 1386, Jose S. Velazquez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Velazquez managed to fake his age by saying he was eighteen years old in order to be hired in the bracero program. His first destination was a ranch in Colorado, in which he and other four braceros worked picking cotton; the treatment of his bosses was excellent. He returned as a bracero and worked in Manteca, California and Artesia, New Mexico. Mr. Velazquez returned without documentation to the United States and worked in the states of Texas and Chicago. He worked without documentation in the United States for approximately twenty years. Velazquez worked in the metal casting over two …

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Interview No. 1329, Cándido Alarcón Jan 2008

Interview No. 1329, Cándido Alarcón

Combined Interviews

Mr. Alarcón very briefly discusses his family and childhood; he learned about the bracero program through his friends; when he was roughly twenty-six years old, he decided to join the program in order to give his wife and daughter a better life; he explains that each town had a raffle to see who would travel to the contracting center in Empalme, Sonora, México, in order to enlist; from there he traveled to Calexico, California, where he was stripped naked and medically examined before being deloused; he describes the process as humiliating, because he was treated like an animal; moreover, he …

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Interview No. 1330, José Natividad Alva Medina Jan 2008

Interview No. 1330, José Natividad Alva Medina

Combined Interviews

Mr. Alva talks about his childhood, family, and father, who was abusive, which led him to seek a life outside of his home very early on; growing up, he worked picking cotton in various places throughout México, and this eventually led him to enlist in the bracero program; he details the process he went through to get the necessary paperwork for the contracting center in Empalme, Sonora, México; from there, he and the other men were loaded in cargo trains, about one hundred per box car, and transported to Calexico, California; he was treated so badly that he wanted to …

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Interview No. 1333, Sara Arrieta Hernández Jan 2008

Interview No. 1333, Sara Arrieta Hernández

Combined Interviews

Sara’s father, Pedro Arrieta González, worked as a bracero; she vividly describes how poor she and her family were while she was growing up; there were times when they went days without eating, until her father was able to send them money from the United States; they were always happy to have him back home; prior to becoming a bracero, he made brooms; he repeatedly mentioned how fond he was of the United States, especially because it was so different; his first contract was in 1942, the year before Sara was born; she comments that virtually every time he returned …

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Interview No. 1342, Jose M. Espinoza Jan 2008

Interview No. 1342, Jose M. Espinoza

Combined Interviews

Mr. Espinoza recalls the harsh conditions he experienced while growing up in Coalcomán, Michoacán; at an early age he started working with his parents harvesting corn and beans; Mr. Espinoza became a Bracero in the year of 1957, he came to the United States to work along with 3 home town friends; he remembers traveling by train along with many others, Mr. Espinoza recalls getting stripped of his clothes and fumigated in Caléxico, California; Mr. Espinoza remembers having some of his personal belongings taken away because they were not allowed to bring anything besides the clothes they had on; Mr. …

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Interview No. 1345, Jesús García Estrada Jan 2008

Interview No. 1345, Jesús García Estrada

Combined Interviews

Mr. García briefly recounts his childhood; when he was roughly fourteen years old, he moved to Bácum, Sonora, México, which was where he learned about the bracero program; several men picked cotton there in order to obtain papers for the workers’ lists in Empalme, Sonora; consequently, he did the same, and he details the process he underwent while there, including the humiliation of being stripped and medically examined; after that, he and other braceros were given lunch and transported by train to Mexicali, Baja California, México; as they were about to arrive, the train slowed, and people offered them milk …

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Interview No. 1344, Jesús Gallegos Jan 2008

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; …

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Interview No. 1351, Pedro L. Lechuga Jan 2008

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 …

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Interview No. 1355, Zenon Martínez Banda Jan 2008

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 …

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Interview No. 1348, Isidro Herrera Ortega Jan 2008

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 …

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Interview No. 1364, Jorge Ortiz Marquez Jan 2008

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 …

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Interview No. 1367, Ana María Perla Jan 2008

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 …

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