An audio recording of an oral history of Elin Helene Simmons on her parents, who immigrated from Sweden and Norway to the U.S. She discusses her family and the differences between her parents' home countries and the U.S.
An audio recording of an oral history of Chris Gniewosz, a Canadian immigrant of Polish heritage, on his family's flight from Poland after World War II, settling in Portland, Oregon, and his continued relationship with Poland. Audio is a little fuzzy due to high recording levels.
An audio recording of an oral history of Reinhart and Wilhelma Engelmann on Reinhart's work in the high tech field, being a professor, and life during and after World War II in Germany. Wilhelma discusses what life in the U.S. was like for a mother raising her children in a foreign country with limited English language skills. Audio is a little fuzzy due to high recording levels.
An audio recording of an oral history of Alice Kern on growing up in a Romanian Jewish community, surviving the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen during the War, and later settling in Portland, Oregon. Audio is a little fuzzy due to high recording levels.
An audio recording of an oral history of Luis Amezcua on his experience of being an immigrant from Mexico in Oregon, what the differences are, what he does and does not miss, and how he and his family ended up in Oregon.
An audio recording of an oral history of Veronica Predovic on her experience as an immigrant from Argentina in both the U.S. and Southeast Asia. She also discusses the differences between Argentina and the U.S., particularly regarding her children and their education.
An audio recording of an oral history of Dolores Beccar on immigrating to the United States from Argentina with her family in 2001, settling first in Southern California then moving to Oregon after significant social and financial upheavals in Argentina.
An audio recording of an oral history of Henry Wang, who was born in China and moved to Taiwan when he was young, on immigrating to the U.S. and earning an engineering degree.
An audio recording of an oral history of Charity Spires, who was born and raised in Palau before moving to Oregon for college. She shares some of the differences between the two countries and what she likes about Palau and Oregon.
An audio recording of an oral history of Jo McCutcheon on immigrating from England and her observations about the U.S. Jo moved to the US in the early 1980s at the age of 26 after falling in love with a U.S. citizen.
An audio recording of an oral history of Susanna Breiling on her experiences growing up in Argentina and Sweden in the 1970s before settling down in Oregon as an adult.
An audio recording of an oral history of Cleo Leigh on the culture shock of moving from Hong Kong to New York for college, how she came to Oregon, and challenges she faced as an immigrant.
An audio recording of an oral history of Mary Patton Kurtz on the Native Americans of Patton Valley, which is near Gaston and Cherry Valley, Oregon. Her family, the Pattons, were among the earliest white settlers in the area. The land nearby was, up through the mid-1800s, the center of population of the Tualatin (Atfalati) tribe. Mary recalls family stories about Native Americans as well as her experiences finding Native American artifacts. There is a transcript of this interview. Note: the recording and transcript have been redacted to protect sensitive information related to Native American graves and artifacts.
An audio recording of an oral history of Reynold Geiger on Indians in the Tualatin Valley. Reynold’s grandfather came to Oregon as missionary in 1839 claiming land outside the present town of Cornelius. Talks about stories passed down to him from his older family members and their interactions with the Indians living close by. Stories about the sweat house were shared. The interview ended with Reynold sharing that his great-grandfather was a minister, relating back to the conversation at the beginning of the interview. There is a transcript of this interview. Note: the recording and transcript have been redacted to protect sensitive information related to Native American graves and artifacts.
An audio recording of an oral history of Enedelia Schofield Hernandez. Enedelia Schofield was born in McAllen, Texas in 1958 and came to Oregon in 1962. She describes her childhood in Oregon, the financial hardships that her parents went through, and reflects on her working experiences and how it impacted her work ethic. Schofield is currently a school principal and at minute 6:30 she describes her experiences in the school system, which included discrimination throughout most of her public school education in Washington County. At minute 11:30 she speaks about her name being changed by a teacher from Enedelia to “Annie” and she gives her insight on the importance of claiming ones original name. At minute 18:45 she describes her positive experiences she had while attending Pacific University and at minute 20:20 she reflects on the values that her parents instilled in her and her siblings. She talks about her father's time as the Organizing Director of VIVA (Volunteers in Vanguard Action) and then her parent's role in Centro Cultural. She reflects on the challenges in terms of identity and racism that this next generation is facing at minute 30:30. At minute 37:40 Schofield talks about the importance of role models and representation and at minute 41:00 she talks about the differences in opportunities for students today vs the 60s/70s. At about minute 44:10 Enedelia Schofield defines how she identifies herself and ends the interview explaining the importance and benefits of the knowing Spanish, and reflects on the impact of Centro Cultural in the community. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Vangie Sanchez. Evangelina Sanchez was born in Needville, Texas. She finished high school in Texas, and at age 19 joined the migrant stream with her mother, stepfather, siblings, and two children. After living and working seasonally in Colorado and California (where they were introduced to the labor activism of César Chávez and the United Farm Workers), Vangie and her family settled in Washington County in 1967. She eventually left field work to become a home school counselor for Migrant Education, and went on to work for such other social service organizations as Valley Migrant League, Virginia Garcia Clinic, and Legal Aid. While raising her children as a single mother and working, Vangie graduated from the short-lived Colegio César Chávez in 1978. She eventually transitioned to social work and became a child protective service investigator for the state of Oregon, working specifically with Hispanic families. At the time of this interview, Vangie is an instructor for a class for foster parents at Portland State University.
In this interview, Vangie Sanchez recounts her experiences of work, education and migration. She reflects on the discrimination and racism that she and her family experienced in Texas and Oregon, the difficulties of raising her children as a single mother, and both the tensions and opportunities for cooperation between Mexican Americans and people born in Mexico. Vangie also elaborates on her values and her personal and ethnic sense of identity. There is a transcript of this interview.
Part 2 of an audio recording of an oral history of Isabelle and Raphael Mendoza. Interview takes place at their business warehouse in NE Portland (Su Casa Super Mercado). Isabel describes early problems with obtaining a liquor license with OLCC (Oregon Liquor Control Commission). At minute 10:13, they talk about their three children and their involvement in the family business. Isabel mentions her community involvement, which includes being in the various planning committees and sitting in the board of directors. At minute 19:00 Isabel shares the limits in opportunities she saw living a primarily Latino community in New Mexico and how moving to Oregon changed that. Rafael then proceeds to share his original plans to eventually move back to Mexico until he saw that staying in Oregon was yelding better opportunities. Rafael shares his vision of further expansion. They recently opened a store in Yakima, Washington; which was made possible due to deliveries they do to restaurants and businesses in that area. They are currently located in Salem, Woodburn, Hillsboro, Yakima, and Portland. She reflects on the hardwork and teamwork it has taken to get to this point in their business. At minute 28:25 the interview transitions to the interviewer receiving a tour by Isabel of their business. The rest of the interview has Isabel describing the various unique items that are sold in their stores accompanied by the sounds of music in the background.
Part 1 of an audio recording of an oral history of Isabelle and Raphael Mendoza. Recording sounds a bit distorted. Rafael was born in Michoacan, Mexico in 1958 and shares memories of poverty during his childhood. He describes his father coming and going between US and Mexico to do farm/field work. Rafael's first arrival to the U.S was to Stockton, CA where he then migrated to North Plains, OR to work at Jerry Stenker's camp. He shares his devastation in not finishing school to focus on work. Rafael met his wife, Isabel, in 1977. He shares how he and Isabel started their own business. Isabel was born in Wyoming in 1957. Her parents separated and they moved to Mora, New Mexico in 1962 with her mother's family. She shares fond memories of helping out with her family business as a child, as well as helping clean homes for people. She moved to Oregon in 1975. At minutes 29:49 she talks about the SETA program that helped her family find a job, which cemented their stay in Oregon. She describes her experience working at a mink farm as well as her experiences working at Washington County Community Action. Isabel shares how she and Rafael met, cultural differences between the two, and they both go into further detail starting their business in 1982 - which included constant travel to and from California. There is a transcript of Part 1.
An audio recording of an oral history of Hector Hinojosa. He was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and migrated to Harlingen, Texas with his family when he was two years old. After Harlingen experienced an economic downturn, the family began migrating seasonally across the country for agricultural work and eventually settled in Washington County. In spite of his abilities, Hector found himself struggling in high school due to a strict policy that penalized him for absences he took to help his family. Hector dropped out during his sophomore year and worked full-time managing a co-op gas station to help support his parents. After a year he was able to return to school through Job Corps in Portland and obtain his GED. Upon graduation Job Corps offered Hector part-time work as a counselor and gave him a scholarship to attend Portland State University to study guidance and counseling. Once he completed the program, Hector worked as a counselor at Forest Grove high school, and after several years began work with a program at University of Oregon to help struggling high school students obtain GEDs. Hector then spent a year working as a recruiter for Colegio César Chávez, and then moved to California to work for Castle & Cooke and negotiate labor contracts between the company and union leaders such as César Chávez. Hector eventually returned to Washington County. He resides in Hillsboro and continues to do independent consulting work for businesses. During his years in Washington County Hector has also been involved with a number of social service organizations.
Hector speaks about why his family moved to Washington County, the living and working conditions that his family experienced in Oregon, and the racism that he experienced in Texas and Oregon. He describes his own struggles in an education system that was not sensitive to his familial obligations, and how those experiences informed his work as a counselor, negotiator, and consultant. Hector elaborates on the importance of culture and language to one’s sense of identity, and on both personal and community struggles to offer improved opportunities for Mexican-ancestry and Latino people in and around Hillsboro. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Laura Gamboa. Gamboa was born in Cuautla in the Mexican state of Morelos south of Mexico City and lived there until she was twenty-one years old. In Cuautla her family had a refreshment stand. Over time the area became increasingly populated, and more and more people opened similar business of their own. Laura noted that sales began to decrease and that the family had less control over which products they offered for sale. Laura moved to Washington County with her two daughters to join her husband and her mother who had relocated there a short time earlier after spending about six months working in Madera, California.
Laura found work ironing shirts at a dry cleaner, and took English classes at Saint Matthew Catholic Church and at Portland Community College in Hillsboro. She eventually secured a job with Oregon Childhood Development Coalition where she served as a teacher.
