Packing-houses

Series of interviews with Kansas City, Kansas residents of Mexican descent about the aftermath of the 1951 Flood. Topics discussed include the impact on the community as many residents moved away permanently from the KCK neighborhoods, the loss of local employers, rebuilding homes and businesses, assistance from governmental and community resources, and how community members stayed in touch afterwards, including the 1951 Flood reunion committee. Irene Gonzalez shares the story of meeting her husband, musician Lupe Gonzalez, at her quinceañera, and John Mendez discusses furthering his education and his involvement in Wyandotte County politics and development.

Interview with Helen Yarsulik about her experience working on the B-25 Bomber at North American Aviation during World War II.She begins by discussing her parents' immigration to the United States, her childhood in the Strawberry Hill area of Kansas City, Kansas, and her parents' work in the meatpacking industry. She describes the day to day work at the plant, including her job in the tubing department, transportation to and from the site, and security to prevent against sabotage. She also recalls meeting her husband Bob after he returned from the service, wartime manufacturing at other sites in the Kansas City area, and getting to know coworkers who came from small Kansas towns for jobs at the big manufacturing hub.

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.

Series of interviews with Kansas City, Kansas residents of Mexican descent about the 1951 Flood and its aftermath. Interview subjects recall having little time to save items from their homes or escape the flood waters, losing houses and businesses, taking refuge in locations including including Memorial Hall, Riverview School and with families in Kansas City, Missouri's West Side neighborhood, the wreckage that was left behind after water receded, and families choosing to rebuild in Kansas or permanently moving to Missouri.

Series of interviews with Kansas City, Kansas residents of Mexican descent about daily life and the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhoods of Kansas City in Missouri and Kansas. Topics discussed include railroad, ice house, and packinghouse jobs, family life, cooking, community events and fiestas, Mexican-American baseball teams, small businesses, and encountering segregation and discrimination. Interview subjects also share stories about service in World War II, tension between speaking English and Spanish, and playing in local bands and orchestras.

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 Severiano Alonzo, born in 1938 in the Armourdale neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. His father migrated from Aguas Calientes, Mexico and his mother migrated from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. They both finished high school in the Kansas City Area. Severiano grew up on 3rd Street his whole life until the Great Flood of 1953 forced his family to live in Missouri for two years before moving back to Armourdale and rebuilding their house. As a child, Alonzo recalls a community swimming pool that was filled with dirt because the white community did not want to share the pool with the Hispanic community. As a young adult, Alonzo came to the realization that a hard-labor job was not the only way to make a living and decided on a more professional path. In 1968, Alonzo and his brother worked at the Internal Revenue Service and performed various duties throughout their years there. Later, he worked at the Guadalupe Center as Executive Director which propelled him to participate in other community-led organizations such as Image, the GI Forum, and as a Program Coordinator with the Business Management Center, while also serving as a Hispanic program coordinator for federal agencies.

Interview with Lucy Lopez about her life and work as a preschool teacher and with the Dos Mundos newspaper. She recalls growing up in the Armourdale neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, where her parents worked for the railroad and packinghouses. She shares memories of the 1951 flood, including the family moving in with relatives in the Westside where the family ultimately remained. She also recounts working at the Muehlebach Hotel's Terrace Grill where she met many celebrities, her school experience, encountering discrimination when seeking employment, and giving birth to two of her children while living in Chicago; and discusses motherhood, and her work and further schooling in early childhood education, the establishment of Dos Mundos bilingual newspaper, and her own experience maintaining fluency in Spanish and English.

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.