TRANSCRIPTION
At what age and where did you start school?
Well, I was one of the ones born after September, so I started not at four but at five. I started going to school at Brewster. It was close to where we would live. My dad had to take us to go register in a tractor because they didn't have any cars or anything. So we borrowed
the tractor from the owner of the ranch, so he could take us to get registered. I attended Brewster for eight years, which was to the eighth grade. Which was nine years, not eight, because they had the first pre-school there. Then we had started first grade. It was a community, little, rural, out in the country.
You did attend school all the time, right?
No. Well yes, to the eighth grade. All day long. Because there was no such thing as people having to go pick up their kids in the middle of the day. Because it was like a little house in the middle of the country so they just had one bus driver in the morning and afternoon.
So all the kids they didn't start in pre-k, because they didn't have time to take them back, they just started in the first grade. Every little ranch we lived in, the buses would go by and take us to school.
Was it in the eighth grade that you became a migrant farm worker?
No, later I started as a migrant worker when I was in about the 10th grade, ninth grade. It was about, as matter of fact 1965 when my dad decided to do migrant work because people had been telling him that if he would be a migrant worker we would have a lot of (small pause), more opportunity to earn money in an easier way, much easier
with a family. Because by the time we migrated there were more of us. If they hired a large family they would have more workers. They would hire kids after school, the small (younger) ones and the larger (older) ones, they would come in handy, then just them (parents) working.
As a family you'd get more?Right
When and where did you first move to?
The first time we went to Indiana. To Bunker Hill, Indiana. Then from Bunker Hill, IN we went to Michigan. They had other
crops before the tomatoes would ripe and be ready to be picked. We
would go out to help other ranchers with fields. Cleaning and weeding out the beans, strawberry, and apples that we would pick before the tomatoes. Once the tomato season started we would have about two and a half months of regular work. Cause the tomato, you know, it yields and then yields some more. You could pick that field about three or four times, depending on how good the crops were.
Did you move right away or did you stay?
No, once the tomato season was done we would come back to the valley. That was about, we would go to do all of that seasonal in between the first or second week of May, which school was not out most of the time. And we would return about the first or second week of October. So all that time we would spend doing migrant work.
So you did have to leave school early & start late?
Yes, kids that were 16 and older would stay working in the fields. Because they were not allowed to be in the fields (all day) until they were 16 years old. Us (her brothers & sisters) that were older, sometimes
it was just two or three of us, we would stay working all day long. Then the kids that were under 16, at 3 o'clock, they would come and they could help. I didn't get to do that because by time we went up north for the first I was already older than 16. So I didn't have to go to school, I was out all the time. I would go back to school when I would go back to the valley. And that's why I was in a special program when we came back. So I could catch up with them...it was us, the older ones, that would stay helping my dad because my mom was at home with the smaller ones. So the older kids would be the ones helping.
So how often did you leave? Was it just from Texas to Indiana?
No, then later on it was different because the first couple of years was when they told us we could only go to one state and back. Then the more we did the migration, the more we learned. Then my dad said that he was able to go to another state, do a crop there then migrate to another state to do another crop there. But my dad just choose to go
to two areas, you know, not to make it so hard on us. So we would go to Kansas or Colorado to do the sugar beets, it would be about two months, and then from there we would migrate to Indiana to do the other crops. Since we already had our bosses there, when we would migrate they would keep our living quarters there. So they knew we would be back the next year. They would hold a little quarter for us. It was not a real big, elegant place but it was a place where you could stay there and sleep. Sometimes it was two little rooms, sometimes it was one room where all of us (12) would have to sleep. At the same time it was like a big place, sort of like apartments, a complex, of families that migrated. Then there was a central shower, bathroom, for all of us, and there was
about sometimes six or seven families that would go there. So we would get in line, you had to take a shower and then the next family would go. And that's where we all would meet. The workers, in the afternoon, would sit down and talk about 'how was your day,(giggles) we were all in the same field but we didn't have time to socialize at work, so at that time we would socialize. Some people were from different towns so we'd get to talk to them about their different towns, the different ways of living back at their home. There we were all like a family because it was like a little camp and at the end of the season everyone would go back to their own home town.
So when you migrated the owner would sometimes supply the home?
Right. They would supply the electricity. We didn't have to pay for electricity, we didn't have to pay for water, the heating. They provided a stove and refrigerator in each little apartment.
Did you or any of the families have a TV?
No, no TV's. It was rare that a family had a TV because it was
something you didn't have time for. Because most of the time you would
go out to work, come back and then sometimes listen to the radio while
you're resting or by the time you knew it you've got to go to sleep
because you've got to get up early in the morning to go to work again.
The living quarters where we were at, were not that great, because they
were small, there was no room for a TV. The little quarters were not big
enough to hold all that. You had a table, bed, stove, refrigerator.
A large family would have bunk beds. We had to have bunk beds so that we
could all fit. The would provide a bed for the parents, a bed for the
girls and another for the boys. We would have to provide our own covers
for the bed. And that was it, it wasn't like we had room for anything
else. Maybe some, later on towards the end of the season, you'd have
money to buy a little one where you were at, but you didn't want to
carry your TV back and forth.
At home you had to go out to a bathroom, while you were working did
you have a toilet or fountain nearby?
No. When we would first go, out in the fields we would just have
to go and find a bush or some place. Either go in the morning or wait
till afternoon. They would give us time at noon to go to the house. They
would make the fields around the camp so we would have time to go back
to your regular home at noon. Then go back in the afternoon.
So you had a lunch break?
Yes, but that was depending on if my dad would let us go back home.
He'd say 'we need to finish the tomatoes from this area', if we finished
then we'd go back to the house, if we didn't we'd have to stay and finish
it. He'd tell us it was time to go, then we'd go eat. But we waited until
he told us. Or we would carry our lunches. Mom would pack us a lunch and
if we got hungry we could eat real fast and then continue working.
Did you have time to eat breakfast in the mornings?
Yes, that was one of the things my mom would do. She'd get up
real early about 3 or 4 in the morning to make a bunch of tortillas, beans,
potatoes, things that we could afford and make enough to have a good
breakfast, cause we had to work hard so it had to take us through the
day. She'd pack us tacos for lunch. Of course she would make us stuff
that would keep. Like potato & egg, bean, bean & cheese mostly bean
because the cheese would not last that long. Or she would make us boiled
eggs, things that would last 3 or 4 hours without having to be
refrigerated....
Did you get paid by the hour?
No, it was contract work, you'd pick so many tomatoes. Individually
you'd get paid by bushels. The more you pick the more you earned. So
if you were a fast worker you'd make more money, if you were kind of a
slow worker then you made less.
Do you remember how much per bushel it was?
When we started, we started about .35 cents a bushel, then the next
time it went up to about .50 cents a bushel. Then later on, because we
migrated for almost 10 years, by the time we stopped migrating it was
almost $2.50 a bushel. Over the years the higher it went.
In these 10 years did you work for the same bosses?
Most of them, yeah, we stopped going because the owner in Indiana
stopped planting tomatoes. In Colorado and Kansas we went to two different
growers, they stopped hiring migrant workers because they had started
doing the hoeing and things with machinery.....
What else did you do on your Saturdays off?
Normally after picking as much as we could we would get in line,
take a shower, get dressed and go to town. Or some of the migrant workers
would get together and have like a field trip and go to the movies, go
out to visit other places in the same town or even other towns. When
we were living in Indiana we got to go see the Indianapolis 500.
That was something we didn't even know what it was but we went to
go see it. We also went to see parks and zoos ,
as a family, that they didn't have in the valley. Or we would go to Air
Bases, to lakes, Lake Michigan,
all of those pretty places that weren't in our reach if we had not left
the valley. We also went to places that had like for entertainment,
places we wouldn't have been able to afford if we hadn't become migrant
workers. Then they would also have dances. All the little camps would
get together and go to another camp and have a get together. A place
where people would share their tapes or their records and have a dance.
Sometimes people who knew how to play instruments would get together
and form a band. They would have dances when we didn't have places to
go. It was good, it was nice to visit people from other camps...
ANALYSIS
After several years of migrant work Janie went to McAllen Business
College and received a secretarial certification. With the help of a
special program designed
specifically to help migrant workers find a stable job, Janie began
work at Tropical.
In her 13 years at Tropical, she received her certification as a
Therapist Tech. Janie moved to San Antonio in 1986 with her husband,
Cirilo "Tex" Villarreal, Junior and began work at San Antonio State Hospital
where she has been for the last 18 years. She loves her job very much and
is happy to have a job she is good at and enjoys. She says that even
though migrant work was hard it provided her with the good work ethic
that she carries with her at her job and in everyday things.
My aunt Janie has always told me that "If I have an opportunity to do
something good for myself or others I should take it." She has always
been an optimistic person, I know now she developed into who she is today
because of her family's support. My first thoughts of migrant work are
back breaking work and inhumane conditions. The way I saw the term
migrant work was someone who was poor, who work from sun up to sun down,
someone who didn't have any other choices. My aunt explained that
the work was hard but that they weren't struggling. They weren't the
richest family but they were happy because they had work and they had
each other. I never knew that in their time off they would, as a family,
visit places that most people today still wouldn't get a chance to see.
My aunt is not ashamed of who she was, she proud that she could help her
family when they needed her, and they helped her when she needed them.
She is proud that with their support she was able to find a more stable job
so that she may settle down and start a career, despite the fact that
she had only been a migrant worker. This interview helped
me to look at migrant work from a new angle. I suppose a drawback would
be that everyone's experiences are different. Someone else's experience
with migrant work might have been far rougher than that of my aunt. To
come close to even a small idea of what migrant work was like (without
actually becoming a migrant worker) you would have to interview thousands
upon thousands of people. The interview process can be an effective way
of learning about the past if done with care and patience and with more
than one interviewee on several subjects and of course the interviewer
& audience will take into consideration that everyone's thoughts and
feelings are different.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
When looking up the site information I ran
across this in the Indiana website. I would like to use it as a summary
for all my web sites. "To positively transform the relationships among
citizens, businesses, and government by utilizing the Internet to
provide a more efficient, cost-effective method for obtaining
information and services."
Tropical Texas Center for Mental Health and Mental Retardation web
site maintained by TTCMHMR Public Affairs Department. Copyright 1999-2000
The Tropical TCMHMR web site
http://www.ttcmhmr.org/ is used to preview the TTCMHMR centers.
"Tropical is dedicated to providing necessary mental health, mental
retardation and substance abuse services for individuals of Cameron,
Hidalgo and Willacy Counties."
The San Antonio State Hospital
web site http://www.mhmr.state.tx.us/default.html is also used as
resource tool. This site offers information on the various services offered
at the institutions. Page created 1/10/2003 - last updated 4/17/2003
Indiana http://www.in.gov/ is a government sponsored site. "To positively transform the relationships among citizens, businesses, and government by utilizing the Internet to provide a more efficient, cost-effective method for obtaining Indiana state government information and services." The IndianaTraveler.com
http://www.indianatraveler.com/Indiana_FunParks_Zoos.htm was created
by Bill Holden-Huntington, Indiana and is copyright 1999-2003
This site offers a site list of various parks and zoo located in Indiana. During my aunts stay
in Indiana the farm owner provided the home, today migrant families can use Indiana Families - Housing and Community Services http://www.state.in.us/fssa/families/housing/cop.html Last Revised: Tuesday, 10-Dec-2002 11:23:34 EST
The Edinburg Chamber
of Commerce Online http://www.cityofedinburg.com/ was developed by Harvest Multimedia, Inc.
The site provides a history of Edinburg, announcements and contact info, etc. Site is maintained and Copyright © 2001 Edinburg Chamber of Commerce, All Rights Reserved
I added the Edinburg High School web site http://www.ecisd.us/
for my own amusement. This site just shows the school faculty & staff, Board policies, district calendar, etc. Site created and maintained by Sandra A. Cadena last updated March 12, 2003
Michigan http://www.michigan.gov/ Copyright © 2001-2003 State of Michigan. Government sponsored site is a window into
what Michigan has to offer. Such as Lake Michigan http://www.lakemichigan.org/ © 2002, 2003 Lake Michigan Federation. All rights reserved.
Site offers information on preserving the Lake, volunteer programs, publications etc.
Indianapolis 500 http://www.indy500.com/
© Copyright 2002 IMS LLC provides information on upcoming events,
racers, sponsors, etc.
U.S. Department of Labor
Employment & Training Administration http://wdsc.doleta.gov/msfw/ Government sponsored
site "The National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) under section
167 of the Workforce Investment Act assists migrant and other
seasonally-employed farmworkers and their families, achieve
economic self-sufficiency through job training and other related
services that address their employment related needs."
Technical support by Dean Smith
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