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Description:

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Alvaro Hernández was born on September 21, 1928, in Julimes, Chihuahua, México; his father worked in agriculture and his mother was a teacher; he moved to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, where he went to school for a short time, but he returned to his hometown to help his father work in the fields; in 1943, when he was only fourteen years old, he came into the United States illegally; a few years later, in 1946, he became a bracero and worked primarily in the cotton fields of New Mexico and Texas. Summary of Interview: Mr. Hernández briefly recalls his childhood and the financial difficulties he and his family endured; he moved from Julimes, Chihuahua, to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, where he went to school up to the sixth grade, but he left school in order to go back to his hometown of Julimes to help his father work in the fields; in 1943, when he was fourteen years old, he crossed into the United States illegally; he spent a few months working in the cotton fields of Mesquite, New Mexico, and soon returned home; in 1944, he crossed again to work with the same rancher, and the following year, he went back home; two years later, in 1946, he went through the hiring process to become a bracero; he recalls that one of the requirements for the braceros was to have calloused hands; as part of the process, he was medically examined, vaccinated, and deloused; his first contract took him to work in the cotton fields of Pecos, Texas; in 1947, a new working contract took him to Doña Ana where he stayed working until 1949; later that same year, he married and was able to bring his wife with him to the ranch in Doña Ana; he eventually learned how to work the cotton machines and was in charge of one of them; Mr. Hernández concludes that he is very proud to have worked with the bracero program.

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Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Anastacio Montalvo Salazar was born on January 22, 1916, in Villanueva, Zacatecas, México; he was the second of six brothers to be born; at the age of six, he began sowing corn and beans in order to help his family; in 1942, he enrolled in the bracero program using someone else’s name. Summary of Interview: Mr. Montalvo briefly recalls his childhood and the Cristero War, which took place during that time; later, in 1942, he began the hiring process for the Bracero Program in Querétaro, México, using someone else’s name; while there, he was medically examined and then sent to the border by train; upon arriving at the reception center, he and other braceros saw movies that gave them information regarding their rights and obligations; he describes his first job in the United States, which was hammering the rail road tracks in California, and his second job, which was picking cotton in Texas; in addition, he also explains what the living and sleeping arrangements were like, what they were given to cook and eat, what their hobbies were, and what they did on weekends and in their spare time; he would periodically send money to his family in México; after the bracero program ended, he was illegally hired in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México, by an American rancher who took him to work in New Mexico, where he consequently spent the next four years; he finally returned to México, and has remained there ever since.

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Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Benito Fierro was born on March 20, 1932, in Julimes, Chihuahua, México; he was the third of nine brothers to be born, and they all learned the agricultural trade from their father; in 1953, he became a bracero; his primary duties in Texas and New Mexico were picking and irrigating cotton crops; in Montana and Colorado, he cleaned and pulled sugar beets; he continued working as a bracero until 1961. Summary of Interview: Mr. Fierro recounts his childhood and the difficulties he and his family faced; he describes the various stages of the hiring process, including the contracting center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, and the medical examinations he underwent at Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas; as a bracero, his work included the following: picking and irrigating cotton crops, picking peas, harvesting lettuce, pulling sugar beets, and cleaning the fields in which they grew; he explains the different wages he received for the various jobs he performed and what he did when his contracts expired; in addition he recounts his experiences when he was sick; he goes on to detail what life was like for him and others on the farms, including what their food was like, what their hobbies were, and what they often did on weekends and in their spare time; furthermore, he concludes that he was grateful to have worked as a bracero and how much that had an impact on not only him, but his family as well; working as a bracero helped him obtain legal residency and ultimately citizenship in the United States.

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Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Bob Porter was born in Roscoe, Texas, in 1929; a year later, his family moved to the Las Cruces, New Mexico area, and later they moved again to Hatch, New Mexico, which is where he grew up; in 1954, upon finishing a tour of duty in the military, he began working for the Doña Ana County Farm Bureau; while there, he administered the bracero program for two years; he later took a position with the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, spending his last fifteen years there as director and CEO. Summary of Interview: Mr. Porter briefly recalls his childhood; in 1954, he began working for the Doña Ana County Farm Bureau as an assistant director, and he then moved up to director; while there, he administered the bracero program for two years; the Doña Ana program was the largest one with 6,000 braceros during the cotton season; at that time, about 500 braceros were transported daily between Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico; while at the reception center, the braceros were medically examined and given time to clean up and rest from their trips; the centers operated year round with some of the braceros working on ranches and in vegetable production; he recalls a trip he took to México, for a special crossing of braceros, in which a few hundred workers were requested by local farmers, but thousands showed up waiting to be hired; there were meetings and negotiations between the Department of Labor and area farmers; he also mentions labor strikes in the area, and he recalls one instance in which Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta came through town; in his opinion, the Department of Labor’s stringent and increasing demands led farmers to purchae mechanization, which ultimately ended the bracero program.

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Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Carlos Corella was born on October 2, 1933, in Clint, Texas, where he grew up; he graduated from high school and was drafted into the Army; he served from 1953 to 1955; after being discharged, he went to work for the United States Department of Labor, at Rio Vista, a processing center for braceros in Socorro, Texas. Summary of Interview: Mr. Corella briefly recalls his time in the Army and the various places he traveled; upon being discharged in 1955, he went to work for the United States Department of Labor, at Rio Vista, a processing center for braceros in Socorro, Texas; while there, he was put in charge of escorting the braceros through immigration on both sides of the border; he remembers a particular form for the braceros called a 414, which they needed to have when going through immigration; it included their name, address, height, weight, and a brief physical description; the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Immigration, and U.S. Public Health were the three governmental agencies present at the reception center; he describes their first order of business, which was to disinfect or delouse the braceros, and he goes on to explain what each agency was responsible for; later, he became part of the on-site crew at the reception center; he worked for a total of three years at Rio Vista; to the best of his knowledge, the Bracero Program began sometime in 1949 or 1950 and one of the original reception centers was at the El Paso County Coliseum; it was not until two or three years later that the reception/processing center was moved to Rio Vista.

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Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Carlos Sánchez Montoya was born on September 11, 1918, in Gómez Palacio, Durango, México; his family moved to Guadalupe Victoria, Durango, which is where he grew up; later as a teenager, his family moved to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua; while living in Juárez, he began working in construction; he later worked as a bracero in New Mexico and Colorado from 1945 to 1963. Summary of Interview: Mr. Sánchez recalls his childhood and early adolescence; he began helping his father work in the fields when he was fourteen years old; a severe draught at that time caused his family to move from Guadalupe Victoria, Durango, México, to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua; while there, he began working in construction; he explains how he learned of the bracero program and the hiring process he went through at the contracting center in Chihuahua, Chihuahua; from there, he was taken to Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, where he was medically examined; he describes what the living conditions on the farms were like, the kinds of food they cooked, what their hobbies were, and what they did on weekends and during their spare time; his work duties included picking cotton and lettuce, irrigating cotton fields, and cleaning sugar beet fields in New Mexico and Colorado; he also explains the different wages he earned and how he was able to extend his contract without having to leave the country; in addition, he concludes that the bracero program is what enabled him to obtain legal residency in the United States and ultimately citizenship.

Description:

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Cecilia E. Concha was born in El Paso, Texas, in October of 1925; she was the second generation in her family to be born in the United States; in 1896, her grandfather immigrated into the United States through El Paso, Texas; her mother was born in Ysleta, Texas, and her father was born in Guanajuato México. Summary of Interview: Ms. Concha recalls what it was like growing up during the 1930s; her mother would shop in Ciudad Juárez, México, 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 Profirio Díaz, before arriving in El Paso, in 1896; he formed a musical group that crossed the river to welcome and serenade the Maderistas in 1911.

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Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Celia Berton was born in El Paso, Texas, in December of 1934; upon graduating from Loretto Academy, she took a civil service exam; her qualifications for typing and stenography led to her to work for INS, the Immigration and Naturalization Service; she worked as a bilingual court typist for the bracero program at Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas. Summary of Interview: Upon graduating from high school, Ms. Berton took a civil service exam; based on her test scores and her qualifications for typing and stenography, she was hired to work for INS, the Immigration and Naturalization Service; during the summer of 1953, while going to school at Texas Western, she worked as a bilingual court typist for the bracero program at Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, where she received minimal training; her primary responsibility was to interview braceros in Spanish and fill out their paperwork in English; she explains the procedures the braceros had to go through while there, which included medical exams, a shower, a haircut from the on-site barbershop, photographs, and fingerprints; she worked at Rio Vista, for a total of two years and also half a year at the Santa Fe Bridge in El Paso, Texas.

Description:

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Consuelo Lerma was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on December 1, 1917; in 1949, she began working for the Singer Sewing Center in Las Cruces; after receiving training, she began teaching sewing classes for the wives of braceros and other low-income farm women. Summary of Interview: Ms. Lerma recalls that in 1949, she began working for the Singer Sewing Center in her hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico; she went to El Paso, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to receive training on how to use the machines and their various attachments and how to teach others to sew; shortly thereafter, she then began teaching a sewing class for the wives of braceros and other low-income farm women; the classes were offered through the Home Education Livelihood Program and jointly sponsored by the government and area churches; the government provided the fabric and necessary materials, and the Singer Company supplied the machines; the classes were given in Vado, New Mexico, in the morning, afternoon, and evening once a week; the women taking her class spoke only Spanish, and she taught them what little English she could; they were from the San Miguel, La Mesa, and Vado area; the women focused primarily on making dresses. [Interviewer’s Note: Ms. Lerma was uncertain of the exact years she taught the classes, but she was adamant about these women being the wives of braceros.]

Description:

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Cora C. Reyes was born in Mesilla, New Mexico, on January 1, 1926, to a family of farmers; her family moved to La Mesa, New Mexico, in order to take in her aunt’s orphaned children; in 1944, she married Silvestre Reyes, who was also from a family of farmers; the Reyes family often hired braceros throughout the duration of the bracero program; Summary of Interview: Mrs. Reyes briefly recalls her childhood and early adolescence; she went to school only through eighth grade, because she had to help her parents at home and on their farm; in 1944, she married her husband, Silvestre Reyes, who was also a farmer; the Reyes family often hired braceros, and there were some who continued to work for the family for over thirty years, which included the time during the bracero program and upon their naturalization; the Reyes’s built a house for three particular braceros who brought their families with them and stayed on the farm year-round; the seasonal braceros would sleep on bunk beds in the barn, but they would share the facilities in the main house; on holidays, many of the braceros would return to México to see their relatives; Mrs. Reyes recalls one tragic accident where a worker was strangled by a cotton picking machine; her husband would hire undocumented workers who were in need of work, and he would hide them whenever immigration officers would show up; she concludes that she thought very well of the braceros and had few if any problems with them; in addition, she comments that many of the local farmers would not have survived without the help of the braceros.