SANTA FE, N.M. — Kristine Navarro has heard many stories, but the ones that haunt her most are those that remain untold.
For years, Navarro has been working on recording oral histories of hundreds of Mexican men who once worked in the fields and on the ranches and railroads in at least 26 states, including New Mexico. These men came to the U.S. between 1942 and 1964 through a federal guest-worker project known as the Bracero Program. The name derives from the Spanish word brazo, or arm.
Navarro, director of the Institute of Oral History at the University of Texas at El Paso, has been recording their stories. Originally intended for the university files, the project has grown into a much larger effort that now involves the Smithsonian Institution and other collaborators.
So far, Navarro and her staff have interviewed about 40 former braceros, and the farmers who employed them, who currently live in New Mexico. The audio recordings also include input from clerks, medical personnel and administrators who worked with the men.
The stories are about many struggles — about discrimination, about being sprayed with insecticide before crossing the border, about family separations — but also about the opportunities to send money home to feed their families.
"I think (people) need to look at the positive impact that (braceros) had on the economy," Navarro said.
She was referring not only to the assistance provided by braceros to farmers and other employers in getting products to market but the fact that they helped local economies by spending some of their wages for food, entertainment and other purchases.
