University of Texas at El Paso

Interview with Agustin Ramirez.

Received his 1st contract as a bracero in 1959 through the Secretaria de Gobernaci?n in Cuernavaca, Morelos to go to San Jose, CA; also worked in Arizona; had to return to Mexico becuase of being seriously ill with stomach problems caused by food in bracero work camp.

Born in Baja California and reared in Sonora; her family left Guaymas during the Mexican Revolution; recalls years (1914-1916) of poverty, hunger and famine in Sonora; unsuccessful attempts by her widowed mother and her children to emigrate to the United States in the late 1910's; eventual emigration to the United States.

Relates experiences as a child including the trips into the mountains to gather mesquite and amole; discusses and describes life in Ysleta during the 1920's and 1930's; celebrations on St. Anthony's Day (June 13th); traces route of street car from Ysleta to EL Paso and route of Highway80.

Mexican Revolution, in which all of her brothers were killed; came to the United States; dedicated much of her life to religious work, including caring for orphans and the sick; Lydia Patterson Institute; ethnic relations; her work experience in Texas, Arizona, and California.

Interview with Bernabe Solis.

Mr. Trevino was born in Salanillo, Coohuila. He was hired as a bracero in Zacatecas and enlisted in Monterrey. He remembers being sprayed with pesticides at the border. He worked in Edinburg, TX picking cotton.

Recollection of the Mexican Revolution and his opinion on Pancho Villa and Guillermo Baca; his emigration to the United States, the Spanish Flu of 1918, of which his mother died; the Depression.

Began crossing into the United States at the age of 11; experiences with immigration officials; experiences working as a bracero in the 1950's.

Speech to Farah Strikers in El Paso