Current Projects
Seeking Refuge (directed by Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva)
In 2014, the migration of unaccompanied migrant children across the Mexico-Texas border made the news. In the succeeding years, El Paso-Ciudad Juárez have been at the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis. This oral history project collects the stories of refugees and asylum-seekers as well as advocates and volunteers who work with them. Interviews will be conducted in both El Paso and Ciudad Juárez through the assistance of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. This oral history project is part of a larger effort to share the stories of refugees with the public, which includes future podcasts and a museum exhibit, “Uncaged Art Tornillo Children’s Detention Center,” which has gained national and international attention. “Seeking Refuge” puts a human face on a controversial topic in modern U.S. society: refugees crossing the border. Amid the political polarization that surrounds border issues and migration, this podcast series promotes a nuanced humanistic perspective of the movement of people fleeing violence and poverty.
Cardboard Cathedral, "Uncaged Art"
(Photo Courtesy of Ivan Pierre Aguirre for NYTimes)
Fr. Rafael Garcia, Sacred Heart Church
(Photo Courtesy of Ivan Pierre Aguirre for NYTimes)
Texas Food Voices – El Paso (directed by Dr. Meredith Abarca)
Food is culture. Food is a living history. People’s food practices and memories illustrate this history as one lived in an intimate, sensorial and emotional way. Food, with its material reality and its symbolic and metaphorical implications, offers a dynamic approach for understanding a community’s complex living history filled with unique cultural values. The food voices of El Paso gathered and archived through this project are categorized into two groups: Private Kitchens and Public Kitchens. The distinction is drawn on the space and place a person mostly bases her/his culinary experience and for whom they mostly cook: family, guests, or customers in a for-profit setting. In some Public Kitchens, as in the case of restaurants, more than one person’s food voice tells the story of the culinary culture and history particular foods served in such kitchens.
Bracero 75 (directed by Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva)
The first braceros entered the United States through El Paso in September 1942. The IOH collaborated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) in 2017 to commemorate the 75thanniversary of this event and we began conducting interviews with former braceros who currently live in El Paso County. Many of the interviews feature Rio Vista Farm in Socorro, Texas, once a processing center for the Bracero Program. The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) named Rio Vista Farm a National Treasure in 2016.
Rio Vista Farm Barracks
(Photo Courtesy of Kip Malone/NTHP)
Alejandra Zavala and Dr. Yolanda Leyva with
former Bracero, Felipe Serrano
Braceros Waiting in Line, Rio Vista Processing Center
(Photo Courtesy of USCIS History Library)
Barrio Duranguito (directed by Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva)
In 2016, the City of El Paso voted to demolish the oldest platted neighborhood in El Paso, Barrio Duranguito. This oral history project documents the history of the neighborhood as well as efforts to protect it from demolition. The project contains oral histories with current residents, previous residents, and advocates.
"Uncaged Art" at Museo Urbano
(Photo Courtesy of Ivan Pierre Aguirre for NYTimes)
The “Mexican Schools” (directed by Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva)
As schools emerged in the Southwest in the late 19thcentury, many school districts chose to build segregated schools for ethnic Mexican children. El Paso opened its first so-called “Mexican School” in the 1880s. This collection explores the experiences of former students who attended segregated schools, including Aoy, Bowie, and Jefferson.
Beall School, 1928
(Photo Courtesy of Yearbook Digital)
Aoy School Class Picture, 1899
(Photo Courtesy of Gustavo Reveles)
Bowie Junior High, 1928
(Photo Courtesy of Yearbook Digital)
On-Going Themes/Topics
Immigration
Over the last 47 years, the UTEP Institute of Oral History has built the largest border related oral history collection in existence, capturing and preserving the compelling stories of the first generation Mexican-American immigration experience. These stories echo those of America's past – full of struggle, sacrifice, promising opportunity, and success. This generation laid the foundation for another generation's profound impact on the modern social, cultural, and political landscape of America.
Our collection also hosts oral history interviews about the African American community in El Paso, the Chamizal, the Mexican Revolution, labor, mining, and The University of Texas at El Paso.
