Bracero Legacy Oral History Project

Through the Liberal Arts Community Engagement (LACE) initiative, Dr. Yolanda Chavez Leyva, Director of the Institute of Oral History, worked with two student assistants to develop a museum exhibit.

The Rio Vista Farm is a historic site in Socorro, Texas, and existed as a port of entry for the Bracero Program. There are eighteen remaining buildings at Rio Vista Farm, one of which was a dorm for the men of the Bracero Program. Later, that building became the Office of Immigration and Naturalization Services. The City of Socorro Community Initiative (CSCI) received $750,000 from the Mellon Foundation to transform this building into the first and only Bracero History Museum in the U.S.

Dr. Leyva was named the lead historian in this project and has been working with a team conducting research and designing the exhibits for the new museum. One of the exhibits will be a Bracero legacy oral history booth, where visitors can record their own stories about the Bracero Program or The City of Socorro.

This summer, the two LACE-funded student assistants, Andrea Santos and Roberto Cristoforo, aided Dr. Leyva in reviewing and gathering a collection of engaging oral story excerpts. These excerpts will be included in the oral history booth and highlighted on CSCI’s social media. The students also helped identify appropriate audiovisual technology for the museum to present the oral stories.

The museum is expected to open in 2024.

Program description and photos courtesy of Dr. Leyva.