Mexico

Interview with Argentine resident Roberto Marin about his life, work, and family. Marin recalls family members immigrating from Mexico to Kansas City, Kansas, to escape the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican "El Campo" area adjacent to the Santa Fe railroad facilities in Kansas City, working in hardware stores, his move to the United States in 1955, and working as a bus boy at the Muehlebach Hotel upon his arrival in Kansas City. He discusses working for the railroad and Swift packing house, working in and owning restaurants for 33 years, and the people, events, and organizations he was involved in that preserved and celebrated Mexican culture in the Kansas City area. He also shares stories about other Mexican immigrants to Kansas City, attending the inauguration of Mexican President Portillo and other ongoing involvement in Mexican politics, and about the sister cities program.

Series of interviews with Kansas City, Kansas residents of Mexican descent about their family backgrounds and early history in the area. Topics discussed include life in Mexico, immigration, the Mexican Revolution, working beet harvests and at meatpacking and railroad jobs in the United States, and life in the Kansas City area, including food, housing, and family life.

Interview with Jessie Garcia Nieto about her parents' immigration to Kansas City from Mexico via Texas, attending Our Lady of Guadalupe and Manual High schools, her sister and cousins' work in the local garment industry, life in the Westside neighborhood, and her experiences working and raising a family. She also shares memories of Ralph Sifuentes and the accomplishments of her children.

Interview with Jose Cedillo about his life and work for the State of Missouri. He discusses his roots in Jalisco, Mexico; his family's immigration to the border city McAllen, Texas, in 1946; his experience as a young student; his father's work at a vegetable packing house, and his mother's work as wife and mother as well as harvest work. The family moved to Kansas City around 1960, and Cedillo recalls his education and various work experiences, and marrying his wife, an immigrant from another area of Mexico. He also discusses his radio show, on which he played a variety of music from Spanish-speaking cultures,

Interview with Mary Bustamante, resident of the West Side of Kansas City, Missouri. Bustamante was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 2, 1924. Her parents, Manuel Lopez and Elvira Garcia de Lopez escaped the Mexican Revolution by migrating from San Luis Potosi, Mexico to Texas and then moved permanently to Kansas City. Bustamante attended Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Missouri for elementary school and partially completed her high school education at Manual Training High School. In her later years, Bustamante led Guadalupe Center fiestas from small locations up to a larger event at Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri. She recalls the challenges of creating a kitchen and handling those large scale culinary responsibilities for the fiesta.

Interview with Ninfa Garza, site manager of the Guadalupe Center's Casa Feliz, about her life and work. She recounts her roots in Texas and the family's return to Mexico during the Great Depression, where she grew up, attended college, was involved in Catholic charitable organizations, and worked in printing. She discusses meeting her husband while working in San Antonio, their move to Kansas City in the late 1950s, and her involvement with the Guadalupe Center where she established social services and community programs for Latino senior citizens.

Part one of a two-part interview with Ramon Reyes. Reyes discusses the history of the Union Cultural Mexicana and Mexican immigration to the United States beginning in the 1910s, including his own in 1917. He also discusses other organizations, including the Sociedad Mutualista Mexicana, and shares stories about other individuals and businesses in the Kansas City Mexican community. He recalls working a variety of jobs, including at Wilson and Cudahy packinghouses and cooking at Putsch's 210 restaurant, health concerns among immigrants in the 1920s, and fishing discrimination in schools and hospitals, and notes a visit to Kansas City by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Interview with Tomas Angel Prospero about his life in Mexico and Texas, and later move to Kansas City. Born in 1922, he moved to Kansas City in October of 1980, and recalls his life in Mexico, his father's role in the Mexican Revolution, flooding in 1938, and moving to El Paso, Texas. He discusses working in construction, his family, and moving in with family members Kansas City during an illness.

Interview with Agustin Medina in which he discusses his youth in Mexico and his adult life as a restaurant owner and community leader in Kansas City. He recalls joining then leaving seminary, leaving Leon to play professional soccer for a number of Mexican teams, meeting and marrying his wife, and moving to Kansas City in 1953. He discusses working at the Swift packing house, moving to California to work at a relative's tortilla factory, and returning to Kansas City to open El Taquito restaurant on Southwest Boulevard. He also discusses his involvement in community organizations and the political needs of the Westside neighborhood.

Interview with Josephine Lopez about her life in the Kansas City area. Born in 1915, she recounts her immigration from Mexico to the United States on foot as a toddler with her family, her father's work for the railroad, leaving school to work around the age of 12 after her father's death, and her social life in the local Mexican American community. She discusses working at the Hotel Baltimore where she met her husband, staying home with their baby during her husband's army service in World War II, moving to the Armourdale neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas in the late 1930s, and returning to Kansas City, Missouri, after the 1951 Flood. She also shares stories about going to work at Parkview Drugstore, her husband attending school and becoming a chiropractor, his work with the Department of Labor, moving to Lee's Summit, Missouri, and her and her husband's social, civic, and family activities.