Interviewer

Nikolaus Frank

Project

Stories from the Chamizal Library

Summary of Interview

Esperanza Martinez was born in 1935, in Las Cruses New Mexico and grew up in Chihuahua and El Paso. Esperanza was 90 years old at the time of the interview, as she reflects on how much the world has changed. Esperanza’s life was hard and sad but it is her family relationships that give her fulfillment in life. The relationship that she had with her husband (Jose Martinez) was one that she felt shortchanged in, and now that he has been dead for a few years she finds that it is important to voice her emotions. An important detail to add is that I refer to Esperanza, my grandmother, as “grandma” because she has always refused the title of “abuela” who she associates with her abusive grandmother. The interview mostly goes over her family history that is relayed through childhood stories, her wedding day, and the dimensions of family relationships. Esperanza was the daughter of migrant farm workers and shares as she remembers working the fields with her parents as a child. She mentions how she and her family were initially detained by border patrol and threatened at gun point when they first crossed from New Mexico into Texas. Furthermore, Esperanza reflects on the complexity of Mexican identity in the U.S. as people would not believe her when she said she was a citizen as the people around her believed that she was an inferior to them. Esperanza has lived a rich life, raising her children almost single-handedly, reminding her of how she had to raise her siblings because her mother was mentally unwell, as she had Alzheimer’s at a young age. While El Paso has grown very much over her lifetime, she feels like it is the same community and this sense of place is still instilled in her.

Date of Interview

4-27-2026

Length of Interview

2:03:35

Interview Number

1842

Terms of Use

Unrestricted

Comments

Interview conducted in Spanish

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Included in

Oral History Commons

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