Interviewer
Myrna Parra-Mantilla
Project
Bracero Oral History
Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee
Manuel Márquez Flores was born in 1920; he spent his childhood with his seven siblings on the ranch where their father worked; he learned of the Bracero Program while he was helping his father work on the ranch; in 1959, he was hired as a bracero; he worked in the cotton and tomato fields of Las Cruces, New Mexico; he also worked in Pecos, Texas.
Summary of Interview
Mr. Márquez traveled to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, in order to begin the hiring process; he recalls that there were thousands of people from cities all over México waiting to be hired as braceros; because many of them did not have any money, they looked for food in trash cans; Mr. Márquez was hired as a bracero when he was twenty-seven years old; he also remembers that at Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, whenever a potential bracero was turned away due to illness, the rest of the braceros would collect money for that man so he could return home; the Bracero Program was not at all what he expected.
Date of Interview
3-30-2003
Length of Interview
30 minutes
Listen to the Interview
Tape Number
No. 977
Transcript Number
No. 977
Length of Transcript
22 pages
Interview Number
No. 977
Terms of Use
Unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Interview with Manuela Márquez Flores by Myrna Parra-Mantilla, 2003, "Interview no. 977," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.
Comments
Interview in Spanish.