University of Missouri--Kansas City

Interview with Kansas City Public Schools psychologist Isaac Gardner, Jr. Gardner discusses his early life and education in the Wendell Phillips neighborhood, his different experiences attending the University of Michigan and Howard University, joining the Air Force as a research psychologist, and a racist encounter with the Kansas City Police Department and subsequent public attention and interaction with police chief Clarence Kelley. He also discusses his memories of social and commercial segregation in Kansas City, teaching at Lincoln High School and Avila College, his work providing assessments and therapy to students, and his involvement with the district's desegregation task force.

Interview with UMKC chemistry professor Dr. Antonio Sandoval about his life. Born in 1931, he recalls his early childhood on a New Mexico ranch in a Mexican American community, moving to Colorado to be able to attend high school, doing agricultural work, and notes that of his graduating class of 100, he was the only one to go on to earn a PhD. He discusses his mother's hope that he would become a priest but instead majoring in chemistry, enlisting in the army where he worked to support nuclear testing at locations including Los Alamos, going on to earn his PhD from Kansas State University where he almost met his microbiologist wife, and coming to Kansas City where he was on faculty at UMKC and his wife taught at Avila, Rockhurst, and Donnelly colleges. He also discusses his participation in United Mexican American Students (UMAS) and working with his wife in the Catholic church's Marriage Encounter program.

Interview with Kansas City school board member John Rodriguez about his life in Dodge City, Kansas, and later Kansas City, Missouri. Born in 1941, he recalls growing up in a predominantly Mexican area of Dodge City where his father worked in packing houses and for the railroads, educational discrimination faced by Mexican-American students, being unable to get haircuts in Dodge City barbershops, and enlisting in the army. He also discusses visiting Kansas City and being able to see Mexican movies, attend fiestas, and buy Mexican groceries and, while discrimination existed, having access to Mexican barbers and public swimming pools. After studying Spanish and French in college, he began his teaching career in Kansas towns including Elkhart and Hutchinson, and came to Kansas City as Director of Outreach Programs for University of Missouri-Kansas City. He later worked in roles furthering educational opportunity and was elected to the Kansas City School Board in 1975.

Interview with Arthur Brand about the history of the Jewish community and his family in the Kansas City area. He describes that he and his extended family came to Kansas City from New York City in June 1928, starting Brand and Puritz garment company, and the development and decline of Kansas City's garment industry from the 1930s through the 1970s. He also discusses at length the evolution of the Jewish community from its beginning in the urban core to its eventual shift south Kansas City and later to Johnson County; issues such as assimilation and intermarriage; and the development of institutions including Menorah Hospital, the Jewish Federation of Kansas City, Jewish Vocational Services, and Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, named for his father; and his involvement with a Judaic Studies program at University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Interview with Rita Botello, former director of the Guadalupe Parish Cente, and born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1951. Botello spent most of her childhood near 21st and Jefferson until moving to Westport in 1951. Botello talks about her parent's struggle in buying a home until her uncle was killed in the Korean War, and his military service insurance which allowed them to make that purchase. As a child and teenager, Botello loved going to the library and reading and participating in summer reading programs. She graduated high school from St. Teresa's Academy in 1969, and went on to college at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she joined the United Mexican American Students (UMAS) student group and became the executive vice president of the student council. After working various clerical and administrative jobs, Botello remained in the community by working at the Guadalupe Parish Center and other community-led initiatives.

Interview with Robert Hernandez about his life and his service on Kansas City's city council. Born in 1945, he describes the Westside of his youth as racially diverse and low income, the difficulties of attending segregated schools and facing discrimination and colorism, and recalls difficulties his father faced after contracting malaria in World War II. He also discusses the the limited opportunities for low-income children in the area, his multigenerational household, memories of the 1951 flood, the inequality of knowledge and government access across neighborhoods in the city, and his experience becoming the first Mexican-American elected to Kansas City's city council.

Interview with Sally Magana Ramos about her life in Kansas City's West Side neighborhood and experience as a teacher. She recounts her family's Mexican roots, her family's experiences with the packinghouses and railroad industry, belonging to a Baptist church in a predominantly Catholic area, memories of the 1951 flood, and her experiences and frustrations as a student. She discusses her college experience and becoming a teacher of Spanish, French, and bilingual classes in the Kansas City School District in the late 1960s and early '70s, teaching English as a Second Language classes to adults, as well as working in the minority recruitment program at the UMKC dental school.