Interviewer
Mireya Loza
Project
Bracero Oral History Project
Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee
Leticia Carabajal was born in Ventura, California; her father was a field worker and a musician, her mother was an American citizen; her parents met in Mexico at a dance, courted for a short period of time before asking for her hand.
Summary of Interview
Her maternal grandfather she explains fought alongside Pancho Villa and was eventually killed; she explains that her father is a bracero but she did not discover this until he began speaking about working in Utah, Colorado, and California; her father worked as a bracero in order to support the family, eventually buying a house with his earnings; she points out that her father does not have his bracero documentation; she began seeing articles about braceros in local newspaper, consequently she began recording her conversations with her dad and gave him a journal so he could write down his experiences; she details her families education and its impact on her; she explains becoming involved once the fight for the ten percent began, she opened the Oxnard office as an extension of the Alianzas de los Braceros in Salinas, but she points out that she was greeted with hesitation from the Salinas office because of the many questions she had. Most notably Mrs. Carabajal points out possible corruption in the organization, by explaining how money was collected, how t-shirt sells were for personal gain, and how braceros are tired of being asked for money; she explains that many braceros have opted to fix their paperwork at the Mexican embassy.
Date of Interview
10-27-2010
Length of Interview
60 minutes
Listen to the Interview
Tape Number
No. 1597
Transcriber
Mayra L. Avila
Interview Number
No. 1597
Terms of Use
Unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Interview with Leticia Carabajal by Mireya Loza, 2010, "Interview no. 1597," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.