Social services

Interview with Lounneer Pemberton, executive director of the Kansas City Urban League. Pemberton discusses his family and early life in Iowa, attending predominantly white schools, attending the University of Minnesota, coming to Kansas City to work for the National Urban League, and actively considering race for the first time as an adult. He also shares memories of the Depression, seeing notable musicians, and thoughts about local activists and politicians, labor unions, local government, Freedom Inc., the passage of the public accommodations laws, and the upcoming national elections.

Two-part interview with with Dave Knuti of the Urban Affairs Department. Knuti discusses his early life and family history, his work for Head Start and the Community Action Program in Washington, D.C., his work with the Human Resources Corporation and other employment and anti-poverty organizations in Kansas City, blighted areas losing small businesses and other community investment, the local education system, and other issues related to economic and social development.

Interview with Ruby Jackson of the Human Resources Corporation. Jackson discusses her early life growing up in Kansas City, Kansas, her memories of the World War II era, nightlife on the Missouri side of the state line in the early 1950s, her thoughts about prominent Black figures including Madam C. J. Walker and Marcus Garvey, marrying, divorcing, and remarrying and having children while working at various jobs, including the Human Resources Corporation. She also discusses her involvement with the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) and multiple community and political groups, her feelings about contemporary politicians, intellectuals, and activists, and numerous issues of public policy including the Equal Rights Amendment.

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.

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 Department of Housing and Urban Development neighborhood affairs representative Ricardo Parra about his life. Born in 1946, he recalls his family moving from Kansas City, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri's Westside neighborhood after the 1951 Flood, being called Richard instead of Ricardo in school, and shares memories of neighborhood businesses and neighbors. He also discusses other memories of his school years, his work for the Guadalupe Center and Midwest Council of La Raza, and his involvement with other organizations.

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 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.

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 Magdalena Rodriguez about her life in Kansas City's Mexican-American community. Born in 1933, she recalls her parents' immigration to the United States during the Mexican Revolution, working beet harvests until settling in Kansas City, Kansas. She discusses the shops, neighbors, and schools of the Armourdale and Rosedale neighborhoods, attending segregated schools, and facing discrimination and racism. She also discusses her parents' experience learning English, the family's experience in the Depression and World War II, her work with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, investigating cases of child abuse and neglect, her involvement in church, school, and civic organizations, and balancing that work with being a wife and mother.