Search results

Preparations, transcripts, newspaper clippings and other materials related to oral history interviews conducted by the Boulder County Latino History Project for participants with last names starting with D-L. Materials include Hispanic History of Longmont by Oli Duncan.

Photocopies of parts of two booklets with photos and words by children who participated in the 1977 and 1978 St. Vrain Valley Summer Migrant Education Program, co-sponsored by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. The 1977 publication is titled “Como Ellos Lo Ven: Migrant Children Look at Life in Longmont.” The 1978 publication is titled “Segundo Mirada: Migrant Children Look at Life in Longmont.”

Booklet of stories and photographs based on interviews conducted by youths with individuals who were successfully employed outside of the migrant stream they grew up in, 1979.

Mary Martinez describes her childhood during The Depression. She first lived in Denver; after her mother died when Mary was five, she lived in Milliken, CO with her grandparents who were immigrants from Mexico. She describes working in the beet fields. After her grandparents died, she and her five sisters had to support themselves. They hired as agricultural workers in Johnstown and were helped by the WPA and relief programs. She describes how the family and others stole coal from trains during the Depression for heating. She married a coal miner, came to Longmont in the 1940s. She tells about her drive to obtain education and do meaningful work, which included acquiring her GED degree at age 42, becoming a nurse's aid, and later a Licensed Practical Nurse, the first Latina in the area to become an LPN. She worked at Longmont United Hospital for many years. She also talks about her other community involvements, serving in the state Office of Volunteers, and the close-knit nature of her family.

Preparations, transcripts and other materials related to oral history interviews conducted by the Boulder County Latino History Project for participants with last names starting with M. Also includes 2013 letters to City Manager Jane Brautigam and application to change the name of Canyon Park to Emma Gomez Martinez Park, dedication of the park and Emma Gomez Martinez’s “Letter to Her Children.”

Miguel Medina describes his childhood years in Puerto Rico, his immigration to the United States as a teenager, and challenging years in Cleveland and Chicago when he struggled to bring up seven children as a single parent. Eventually he moved to Longmont and opened Casa Medina, which became not only a successful music business, but also community hub. Mr. Medina talks about the ways in which he has aided members of the Latino community, from taking new arrivals under his wing to translating and assisting many Spanish-speaking members of Colorado's minor and major league baseball teams. He also has been an active participant in community endeavors such as creating Longmont's Multicultural Plan and supporting Democratic Party politicians.

Augustine Cordova is retired as a software programmer/engineer at IBM and is also a musician. His family, on both sides, is from New Mexico, but his parents moved to the San Luis Valley in Colorado, where he grew up. He describes the sense of community there, and his respect for his father, who was ready to help anyone. Augustine attended the Univesity of Colorado at Boulder in the 1970s. Among the student movements in which he took part were the Coors boycott, the grape boycott, and the Safeway boycott. He talks about his participation in street theater and musical groups to publicize Chicano issues and describes a song he wrote while a student called "Yo Soy Chicano". Later he describes what happened with the bombing of "Los Seis de Boulder". He recites a song that he wrote about Los Seis de Boulder. He discusses the positive strides made by Latino students who attended CU in the 1970s, Latino presence and culture in Boulder County, the long-term contributions of the Chicano movement of the 1970s, and encourages the younger generation to "pick up the baton" of cementing and continuing gains made by his generation.

Arthur Perez, an executive chef who grew up in Louisville, Colorado, talks about the challenges he confronted while growing up as one of very few Latino families in the community. His maternal grandparents were both chefs. His father was a migrant worker from Texas; his mother, whose family moved from Erie to the Goss-Grove neighborhood in Boulder in the 1950s, worked at Valley Lab. His parents moved to Louisville in 1975. He discusses the importance of food in his family's activities, his strong sense of pride in being Latino, the importance of family and religion in his culture, and contributions of Hispanics to Boulder County. He gives examples of racism that he has encountered, talks about how not having learned Spanish at home has affected him, and reflects on the pull of gangs for some Latino youth.

Dolores Silva is a long-time resident of Lafayette, Colorado. She was born at home in Denver in 1929 with the assistance of a midwife. Her mother was from Taos, New Mexico; she was part American Indian, and when orphaned as a child was raised by the Taos Indians. She came to Denver and met Dolores' father, a professional baseball player. When they divorced, their other children were sent to an orphanage, but Dolores was a baby and stayed with her mother and stepfather. Her father and her husband worked as coal miners in the winters and did construction in the summers. She discusses safety issues in the mines. Joe Jaramillo, who was killed in the Monarch Mine explosion, was a relative. Dolores went to school in Denver and did well but did not graduate because she had to go to work. She and her husband, Manuel, have been married and lived in Lafayette for 68 years. Manuel mentions working for the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) around the time of the Depression. Dolores worked for Walmart and then NeoData. She describes good relations between Mexicans and Italians in Lafayette, her son's service in Vietnam, and the importance of the VFW post as a social center.

Doris Gonzales describes the hard times she and her family experienced growing up during The Depression after her father could not return from a visit to Mexico and her mother contracted tuberculosis. She lived with an aunt and uncle in Boulder at 601 Alpine St., while her mother recovered in the sanitarium. She describes doing farm work, her education, and her love of athletics. She talks about jobs that she held and also gives examples of discrimination that she experienced, such as having students throw stones at her on her way to school in Lafayette, and trying to eat at a restaurant in Longmont with a "White Trade Only" sign.

Virginia Maestas was born in Colorado and grew up in Longmont, Boulder and the San Luis Valley. Both of her parents were born in New Mexico and worked as migrant farm workers. Later her father worked in the Great Western Sugar plant and Green Mountain Cemetery. Her mother did domestic work. Virginia describes her childhood, including the challenges of the living conditions, schooling without accommodation for her lack of knowledge of English (which led to her dropping out in Junior HIgh School), prejudicial treatment of Latinos, and the small size of the Latino community in Boulder County when she was growing up. She also tells about her return to school to obtain a GED at age 26, a college degree at age 46, and her subsequent career as a teacher. She discusses changes in the Boulder County Latino community and changes in attitudes toward Latinos over time.

Elvira Ramos is Director of Programs at The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County. She talks about her experience of growing up in Indiana and her roots in Brownsville, Texas. Her ancestors have lived in the Rio Grande Valley for many generations, and both of her parents were born in Brownsville, Texas. After World War II, her parents moved to Indiana, where her father worked in the steel mills. Her mother graduated from high school, but was not allowed to go to college. Her parents were active in the Democratic Party and in helping new Latino immigrants in the area. Although both of her parents spoke Spanish, Elvira was not taught the language because her parents had been punished and held back in school for speaking Spanish. Elvira received her bachelor's degree in English at Indiana University in Bloomington. She worked in Denver and Brownsville before moving with her son to Boulder County in 2009. She talks about racism in Colorado, which she finds to be more pervasive than in Texas. She also discusses her work at The Community Foundation, where she manages grants that are used to encourage and promote philanthropy. She trains and facilitates workshops on leadership development, diversity, cultural competency, volunteer management and strategic planning. She offers career advice for young people.

Emma Gomez Martinez has been a spokesperson and advocate for the Hispanic community in Boulder since the 1950s. She was born in Aguilar, Colorado in 1928. Her father had come from Mexico in the 1920s; her mother's family was from Northern New Mexico (one grandmother was a Comanche Indian). Her parents moved to Erie, Colorado, in 1929; her father worked in the coal mines in the winter and did field work in the summer. She talks about discrimination against Latinos in the schools and witnessing the deportations of Mexicans in the 1930s. She comments on the effect that discrimination had on Latinos. She describes lack of employment and housing for Latinos in Boulder in mid-twentieth century Boulder. She talks about the history of her work with OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity) in Boulder in the 1960s and 1970s. She comments on positive relationships among Latinos and blacks in that neighborhood. She talks about the re-naming of Canyon Park in her honor in 2013.