Mexican American History, Fall 2009

Narratives Essays
Students were prompted to write a narrative that was either autobiographical, based on a family member, or a person that was close to them.

They were asked to explain how the selected person or persons' experience intersected with a historical event or era. 

The narratives are listed below by Title, Abstract, and Key Words. 

Take a moment to scan through this webpage, then just use buttons to open a PDF file of selected narrative.
Narrative 1:
Topic: Crossing the Border

Abstract: Growing up in Jalisco was a great time period in my life, but at a certain point we all must leave that perfect place.  When one moves it’s usually to another town or city, but I had to move to another state far away from my home in Jalisco. To get to my new home I had to cross la frontera and this crossing became my first adventure in life.

Key Words: Separation, Scary, frightening, emotions and new feelings towards new people.

Narrative 2:
Topic: My father’s early life

Abstract: My father is someone that since an early age has had to work for everything he has ever owned and did not get help from anyone else.  His life in the U.S. has been one  of work and dedication to family and to further himself through work.  He has experienced life from two different countries and has come to appreciate life in the U.S.  The hard work that this Mexican American man has done over the years proves that acquiring the American dream of creating a family and owning a house is possible for anyone.

Keywords: Independence, hard work, inspiration, triumph, determination of immigrant, Opportunity in America
Narrative 3: 
Topic: My late teenage years as a pothead and the negative connotations my parents applied to me.

Abstract: Although I consider myself to be a witty constructive individual, my family has seen me as less of a person because I, like many other constructive Americans, smoke weed. They both came from a traditional Mexican household, where they were taught that drugs were never an acceptable aspect of life. I do agree with my parents that Marijuana has impacted my life, but not in the negative aspect that they believe it has. Personally I don’t think that marijuana is ruining my life as my parents do; it helps me focus, enhances life, and promotes creativity.

Keywords: Alienation, Marijuana, Separation, Mexican conventional wisdom, and Family Values.


Narrative 4:
Topic: My struggle with old family traditions and how I broke free.

Abstract: As a child I was subjected to old family traditions. I learned at a very young age the roles that both a male and female played in a typical Mexican family. My grandmother who had immigrated to the United States at a very young age was very old fashion and strict with the way that she viewed a female’s role in a Mexican family. After my mother
and father split we were forced to live with my grandmother and the
the female role became even more clear to me. I was then forced to take on a role based on an old fashion tradition that I not only didn’t agree with but that I didn’t understand. Throughout most of my childhood I struggled to make my place as an individual because of the fear and respect that I had for my grandmother. I hid my studying most of my childhood and it wasn’t until I entered high school that I finally got the courage to ask my mother to allow me more studying time so that I could have a better chance to get into a good college. My mother disagreed and it wasn’t until my aunt came to my defense that my mother’s view changed towards me forever. Through struggle and constant studying I finally got the approval of my grandmother and we’re closer than we’ve ever been.

Keywords: Old fashion traditions broken by new traditions, roles of women and men in a Mexican family, independence of Mexican women and how it was seen as an intimidation when finding a good husband.




Narrative 5:
Topic: My father growing up in Mexico

Abstract: Life was though for my father growing up. He lived under bridges when he was only 8 years old. And had to fight for survival to see who was the best. And once he proved himself by fighting one hundred people you became a Man as the streets would say. You wouldn’t fight people just because you wanted to it was for respect towards your name.

Keywords: Father growing up in Mexico, living conditions, leaving to the united states, and having a family of his own.

Narrative 6:
Topic: My grandmother experience making a family in the U.S.

Abstract: My grandmother was a hard worker that had 12 children raised them all to her full advantage. They traveled often to move to make money. Everyone she worked with all came from the same place. She has grown so much. She became a U.S. citizen during the times were so rough.

They always traded room and board for labor. How she lived in a house that was condemn and there house was haunted.

Keywords: Travel, how she became a citizen, haunted house, living conditions

Narrative 7:
Topic: My life experience growing up as a pocha

Abstract: As a young girl I grew up speaking Spanish until I started going to Elementary School. But it never seemed to be an issue since my father spoke mostly Spanish and my mother spoke English. Actually I think we were the only ones on my mom’s side of the family that spoke Spanish. It wasn’t until I got older that it seemed to bother my Dad’s side of the family. Not just the Chicano Spanish but also our “American ways”, they called us the Pochos of the family.

Keywords: Living conditions, Mexican families, American families, being proud to be pocha.

Narrative 8:
Topic: My experience of my working childhood

Abstract: As a kid since I remember, until I finished high school, I remember envying other kids. I hated getting out of school because I knew I had to go to work. My mother told me that my father used to take me to his yard maintenance business since I was able to walk. Soon after I would start helping him out. If I would ask for something else besides food they would tell me that I had to work for it, and I was only about 5 or so. I hated holidays because it meant that there was going to be no class, and instead of going outside and play with friends I would have to work instead. Its my parents background and the class level that they were part of in Mexico that made them raise me in that way.

Keywords: Early child work, Mexican parents and their traditions, parents education Towards their children.

Narrative 9:
Topic: My family’s struggle to try and live a better life.

Abstract: Even before I was born, my family had struggled to do pay bills, put food on the table, and get to work everyday. My father was never able to hold down a stable job, and my mom could not work because she has 3 kids to take care of; there were many times that we would not even eat at night. My father never established a career, he was just a job to job worker, but he realized the way he was dong things was wrong and a changed needed to be made. And as we children grew older, my mother felt the need to contribute and help the family. We were sent off to school in the day, and my grandfather’s farm in the evening; while my mother and father worked what seemed like everyday.

Keywords: Being poor, struggling, Mexican family, Alcoholism, Mexican’s in school.

Narrative 10:
Topic: My youth without my father

Abstract: This personal narrative is reflective of my experience growing up without my father. It highlights the ways my mother’s personal struggles have been inspiring to me to want to work hard and fulfill her and my father’s dream for our family’s success. I share a discussion about my challenge with being bullied and discouraged from fighting as well as a discussion about other individuals who have been role models in my life in my father’s absence.

Keywords: single parents, diseased father, work issues, bully, school fight, suspension, family history, educational and responsibility to parents, personal growth/development, hopes and dreams, work and impact on intimacy, persistence to succeed, school and identity, limited opportunities for women, women exclusion. U.S. and family separation, Language and isolation. Leaving Mexico, family dinner, work accident, American Dream, el norte, gang avoidance.

Narrative 11:
Topic: My father’s Struggle when he was new in the United States.

Abstract: My Father crossed the U.S border when he was only 11 years old. He didn’t have the opportunity to study because of lack of money, his family and him were very, very poor. He is one out of 17 brothers and sisters. He suffered a lot while he was a child. He came to the U.S to help his parents with money. Then he became a better U.S Citizenship. He has a happy life now with his family

Keywords: Bad conditions, lack of money, no education, not a very happy childhood, depression, sadness, lonely.

Narrative 12:
Topic: Children as Parents

Abstract: It happened to my mom it happened with my older sisters and it happened to me. We all had to be parents as children as children. I did not hate all the responsibility, I think it made me more responsible as I grew into an adult today. My mother was a full time worker and she had to work hard for what we had. My mother got all the help she could get by the help of her children. We are a very close family today.

Keywords: Child hood life, responsibility, happy, close as a family, life long lessons, and working together.
                                
Narrative 13:
Topic: Mexican women’s struggle to succeed in life and the work force.

Abstract: Mexican women struggle to succeed in life while their husbands try to put the down and even their own families, try to put them down. It is difficult for women to succeed in the work force because males are constantly putting them down and not giving them the chance to prove to them that they too can work and succeed in the job. I believe that this affects me even more because I am a Mexican female and my family actually the males do not agree that I will be attending college and on top of that go to work. They think that a women’s job is to stay at home and prepare herself for when she is going to marry.

Keywords: Women trying to succeed in life, in the work force, how hard life is for Mexican females

Narrative 14:
Topic: Working in the fields as a teenager.

Abstract: Every summer from the age of twelve on, I worked in the tomato fields with my father who was a labor contractor. In the fields, the lessons learned were timeless. I learned the responsibility of making and taking care of money. I also learned about my Mexican culture and folklore. I learned how to dance and have fun in any given condition. And I learned about racism which my father would make sure we had no part in as workers or as the discriminated.

Keywords: Racism, Mexican

Narrative 15:
Topic: A Diary for my daughter.

Abstract: A friend of mine passed away leaving a new born child. He never got to share anything with his baby because the baby was only 10 days old. Family and friends were left with the task of teaching and telling the baby everything that his dad did not get to share with him. At that time I was pregnant and became very afraid of dying. I want to be the one to tell my baby the stories and things I have learn in life. I began writing in a book of everything I want her to learn from me and the things I want to share with her. Some day she will own it and it will help her understand, learn and accept issues and people in both of our lives. You can consider it a dairy to my daughter.

Keywords: Personal and emotional connection of a mother to her child. A Family connection and its legacy. Fear of death and lack parental involvement.

Narrative 16:
Topic: How my family came to the US.

Abstract: I am very happy and honored to have the chance to be living here in the US and have an opportunity to get an education and be someone in life. Because of my aunt Elitania she got married to us citizen my grandfather got to get his papers fixed and got the 2 youngest one my uncle Ignacio and my dad. My father meeting my mother at a clinic and started dating for a couple of months and getting married and got her papers fixed to come to the US.

Keywords: How my grandfather and dad were workings as braceros, How my mother and father met, working in the fields picking up crops

Narrative 17:
Topic: Immigrant Worker

Abstract: My Father was raised in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. He grew up in a poor dysfunctional family and had it rough going up. He had to drop out of school to go to work for his family to get by. He ended up migrating to The United States in his early 20’s to seek out a better life and raise a family. It was hard for single parent throughout the years, but he’s been really successful in maintaining a family. My dad’s long time experience on car body shop repairs has led him to be a provider for my family. With poor family relations, he has made it his goal to keep my family together during rough times.

Keywords: Single-Parent, Immigrant, Hard Worker, Education, Family provider

Narrative 18:
Topic: Lifestyle of My Grandfather

Abstract: My grandfather’s life as a young child living in Mexico and having the luxurious life, learning how to play the guitar and learning something about himself and creating a big family.

Keywords: Family, learning about oneself, growing up, developing oneself

Narrative 19:
Topic: My very own perceptions of being an only child.

Abstract: An only child has benefits and disadvantages. For the lighter side of being a single child, one does not have to share possessions and other important things with another; one does not have to deal with the troubles of fighting; one does not have to share the spotlight of attention; and one is able to do plenty more things in life with a greater amount of money available. For the darker side of being a non-sibling, one risks developing lonesomeness and depression from not having any brothers or sisters around. Still, there are ways to eliminate the possibility of developing such troublesome issues in life, and those are to make friends and to engage in all sorts of activities that distract the mind from moping about being lonely.

Keywords: Non-Siblings, Benefits of being an Only Child, Disadvantages of Being an Only Child, Ways to Overcome Loneliness and Depression in Non- Siblings

Narrative 20:
Topic: My Grandfather’s experience of being the leader of a family.

Abstract: Being the eldest son of a Mexican family, my grandfather had to assume the responsibility of a household, at the age of nine. He dropped out of school in the fifth grade to be able to support his family. He started working any job that would pay, in able to keep his mother and seven siblings from starving. At the age of 15 he decided to move to the United States to send money back to Mexico to support his family. He worked various jobs when he got to the United States and made more money than he would have in Mexico. He also faced much adversity in the workplace from American supervision and co-workers. By working my grandfather met my grandmother at his workplace. He also brought over many of his siblings from Mexico in order to give his family a better life.

Keywords: Mexican people and education, supporting the family, migrant worker, working conditions, hostility in the workplace, workplace connections, bettering family.

Narrative 21:
 Topic: Living life with lessons learned

Abstract: My mother lived in Aguascalientes, Mexico she lived a life similar to others. Poverty, struggles and getting through a life is something people couldn’t understand or believe how someone could make it this far. My mother and her family thought migrating into the US they would lose all their problems in Mexico but instead they fell in to the habit of buying and losing the beliefs they had. Problems got worse when they were hoped to be solved but things didn’t always go the way my mom and her family had thought.


Keywords: Poverty, Struggles, loss in beliefs, made fun of, and picked over others.

Narrative 22:
Topic: My adaptation to Mexican American culture and the development of healthy choices while growing up in the United States.

Abstract: My name is Ben and I will be talking about how I developed into my Mexican American Culture with my Family. I will be talking about, health changes that include belonging to a local gym and adapting to new eating habits and foods. My Religion has been a very inspiring and important part of me, as it guides me in some of my values which I believe in. One of my best hobbies is copying and editing music for my everyday life functions. I will also be talking about how not knowing Spanish has affected my life and me culturally.

Keywords: Development into my Mexican American Culture, The effects of not knowing Spanish, Healthy positive changes, my values inspired by Religion and editing cultural music.

Narrative 23:
Topic: My friend’s life and struggles on her journey to California.

Abstract: My friend was born and raised in Oaxaca. Her family was extremely poor but worked together for survival. Both her parents worked provide the family’s basic necessities. The process of cultivating the mountains for food and way of traveling the great distance to the mountains. Marriage and wedding ceremony included the whole town along with the bride and groom. How different life is living in

Gilroy, California with her husband and child.

Keywords: life in Oaxaca, mountains and their importance, life struggles and cultural traditions, marriage proposal and planning and ceremonies, hardships, travel to California, life in Gilroy.

Narrative 24:
Topic: My cultural experiences growing up.

Abstract: My outlook about life has remained positive even though I understood that I grew up in a poor family. We might have been economically distressed but we were rich with culture, and love. My mother played a major role helping me learn of my heritage and supporting me in my interests for American pastimes. Through my mother’s creative ideas to make money, I was able to establish a well rounded personality that satisfies both my rooted Mexicana, and my life as a U.S citizen.

 Keywords: Mexican Folkloric Dance, parental love and support, Fiestas vs. American parties, living in a poor economic status, and creative fundraising,
Narrative 25:
Topic: My grandparent’s experiences making it through time

Abstract: My grandfather worked all his life to support his family; he felt that it was his obligation to help those in needs even if it was his own shirt, as he came to a new country he found a new life and made his own family but not leaving behind his values and his beliefs. They worked all there lives to both support there families even though they had to not enjoy there own lives as they should have.

Keywords: Values, Mexican People, Immigration, Education, Family Values

Narrative 26:
Topic: My Mother’s experiences during her adolescent and young adult years.

Abstract: My mother was born on November 12, 1954 in Jalisco, Mexico. She was raised with both of her parents and nine other siblings. At the age of six she started her first year in school. Since in the older days it was a custom that younger girls under the age of eighteen were getting married, my mother was proposed at the age of sixteen and got married six months later. In the first month being married to my father she followed him to the United States where she began her new life. After happily finding her first new job she was disappointed to realize how she was being discriminated as if she was not wanted.

Keywords: Education and Work, Accustom to New Life, New Work, Seeking for Progress because of Discrimination, and Personal connections.

Narrative 27:
Topic: My experience and identity of being a fútbol player.

Abstract: Being a fútbol player is great one gets to bond with family members and make new friends but it has also brought something that I wouldn’t have thought of. It gives me identity of who I am and what I am. I have been identified as a Mexican just because of the sport I play and only when I play. When I am in my regular clothes there is confusion of what ethnicity I am and what language I speak. There is a stereotype when I play futbol but it also gives me the identity that I don’t mind having I am a Mexicano and I am proud of that.

Keywords: Futbol player, Family, Friends, Stereotype with futbol, Identity confusion, Proud of being Mexicano.

Narrative 28:
Topic: My father in-law’s experiences in the farm land as worker.

Abstract: My father in-law worked as a farm field worker in El Paso Texas. He worked in the cornfields and chili fields of New Mexico. He also worked in Castroville California in the artichokes fields from 1953 to 2003. He never went to school because back then only the rich people can afford it. Everyone in the fields were Mexican, and the work was hard, plus he need to work harder to help his family. More important he needed to bring money to his family. Despite that he was often called name because he was uneducated, my father in-law never gave up.

Keywords: Working Conditions, Personal Optical Problems in life and at work.

Narrative 29:
Topic: My grandfathers experience as a bracero

Abstract: My grandfather was the first of the family to leave Mexico in search for a better work opportunity. He headed north to the border of Mexico in search for work. He quickly finds works when a representive from a work agency offers him work. He then finds himself in hot weather state Arkansas and works the fields. He encounters discrimination something he never had to deal with and also grueling long working hours. When coming to the United States as bracero he opens up the doors for a better opportunity for the entire family

Keywords: Family and Heartaches, Opportunity in the North, The Bracero Program Working Conditions, No Dogs, Negros, Mexicans, and No regrets

Narrative 30:
Topic: The struggle my parents overcame

Abstract: My parents came to the United States to better their lives but as immigrants struggled. They lived through deportation, poverty and at the same time the best experiences in life. Although life here as newcomers was not easy for them they never gave up. Because of their courage we deeply appreciate everything they went through and it is now our time to work for their future.

Keywords: Poverty, Deportation, The power of Family

Narrative 31:
Topic: A better Life in a different country

Abstract: At a very young age both of my parents decided they were going to move to the United States. California was now the place they were going to call home. My father and mother have lived here in the U.S. for 21 years now. They have worked real hard to get to where they are now. But their main focus has always been to give my brother and I a better way of life and an education something that they didn’t have back home.

Keywords: Moving from one place to another, leaving everything behind, their jobs, their children and education

Narrative 32:
Topic: Finding identity through music

Abstract: Being a first generation Chicana was confusing for me trying to find a fine line between being American and not losing my Mexican heritage and music helped me find this fine line. I found my identity as a first generation Mexican-American through the music of my culture.

Keywords: Music, culture, Identity, Mexican-American/ Chicanos, music genres.

Narrative 33:
Topic: My Mother's Experiences as a Pregnant Seventeen Year-Old Teenager.

Abstract: My mother experienced various hardships while being pregnant at the young age of seventeen. Unfortunately, she dropped out of school early her senior year to work to be able to support her incoming child. She was determined to go back to school so that she could be able to achieve her goal and pursue a career in order to better herself and her family.

Keywords: Postponed education, Prolonged degree, Financial need, Responsibility, Young pregnancy, Young mothers, and Self motivation.

Narrative 34:
Topic: My Grandmother, and her dedication and love of her family.

Abstract: My grandmother was born in Juarez, Mexico, in 1934. She was the youngest of three children. At the age of twelve, her father past away and she could no longer attend school, dropping out in the sixth grade. At that young age, she worked side by side with her mother and sister while her brother worked jobs designated for men. All was done for low wages. Times were rough and family came first. While working in Juarez, she met and fell in love with a very handsome man I call Grandpa. Married in 1957, they moved to El Paso, Texas, U.S.A. in better hopes for their family’s future. Four of their six children were born in Texas and their journey to support them began. Later they moved to California, where the last two of their six children were born. From children to grandchildren and grandchildren to great grandchildren, her love and family dedication never faded. She held the family together and kept our culture and traditions alive.

Keywords: Childhood in Juarez, Working Young to Support the Family, Marriage and New Hopes in El Paso, California’s Opportunity, Raising Mexican- American Children, Parenthood with American-Mexican Grandchild.

Narrative 35:
Topic: When the border crossed my family

Abstract: My grandfather as a single parent trying to support and maintain the last few members that remained. He was forced to join the seasonal working rush living in low poverty conditions because my grandfather had no school. In his journey, my grandfather was blessed with angles that looked after his sons’ wellbeing. My father had to be Baptist to go to school. They whisper in my grandfather ear that education is vital but so is citizenship.

Keywords: Working Conditions, Women in Mexican families, Mexican people and education, Citizenship

Narrative 36:
Topic: My grandmother experience La Guerrilla de Los Cristeros, and all the tremendous effect these had in many different ways towards people.

Abstract: In the following text the reader will learn about a guerrilla that was held in1928 in Mexico. The guerrilla involved many people that were against catholic religion and how the catholic people defend their church rights. These will include how certain people survive this guerrilla like my grandmother did when she was a child. Also the effects people like my grandmother had related to la guerrilla de Los Cristeros later on, and what they did to overcome their unforgettable memories.

Keywords: Mexican women Education, and Women’s Decisions.

Narrative 37:

Topic: My mother’s experience as a prisoner

Abstract: My mother was born in Los Angeles California; she was second born of the girls and from a family of eight. Her parents wanted to raise their family in California. My mother parents were born and were from Texas. Her parents felt it to fast pace in Los Angeles and not enough work for her father, so they came to Gilroy Ca so he could work as a carpenter. My mother met my father at a local store pay phone on down town, they were very different. My father was from Jalisco Mexico and my mom barely spoke Spanish and my father barely spoke English. My mother was exposed to more of Mexican culture with my father in first years of them meeting that she had her whole life. My mother made Northern California her home with my dad and they got married two years after they started going out and had my older sister and me.

Keywords: falsely accused in the immigration system. Treated with no respect first experience with immigration

Narrative 38:

Topic: Growing up as an indigenous person.

Abstract:My parents where born in Oaxaca, Mexico so I am part indigenous. I grew up being embarrassed of my heritage and I never told people who I really was. I denied my native side. I heard a lot of discrimination towards Oaxaca people that I couldn’t be a part of that. As I grew older I realize how wrong I was and how proud I felt of my heritage, traditions, and customs. It didn’t matter how people felt about me, I felt proud of myself.

Keywords:Embarrassment and isolation, Language, Discrimination, Mexican people towards Mexican people, Denial of their real identity, Facing reality and the truth.

Narrative 39:

Topic: A Single Mother’s Struggle

Abstract: My mother came to the United States fro El Salvador, thirty years ago looking for a better future. When she arrived she saw it wasn’t easy to find a job especially if you have a language barrier. When she finally got a job, she could help but too remember all the poverty that she lived as a child back in her native country. She fell in love and suffered domestic violence. She was able to free herself and live in peace far way from my father. I admire my mother she is my role model and a true warrior in my eyes, because she always keeps on fighting and never gives up.

Keywords: New Country equals New Beginning, Language Barrier, Rough Childhood, Love and Domestic Violence, Freedom and Living in peace, my mother a Warrior.

Narrative 40:

Topic:How my life turned out to be.

Abstract: I grew up being a kid with many problems. I not only dealt with rejections from other kids but also was a target of constant abuse. I was a troubled kid but my life took a wild turn. My life had gone from bad to great in a manner of years. I went from having to play with myself to a popular and athletic person. I consider my life as a gift and it’s something it should be lived alone.

Keywords: family, troubled childhood, growing up, sports.