“I did not want to be used as the token Latin.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for Becoming a Teacher In the fall of 1960, I went to IU and studied education. And I did some work at Indiana Northwest. And then I wound up at Bloomington. I got my degree in Education in 1966. […]
ethnicity
Very White-Looking
“I remember having to make a distinct choice of who I was going to hang out with.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Very White-Looking Edited by Nick Ladeau Transcript for Very White-Looking So my dad’s from Mexico, and my mom’s from Wisconsin, so I’m really Mexican-American. And he decided that we live in America, […]
Barrier Number One
“If we can communicate with people then, you know, I think some of these other fears and reservations may subside a little bit.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Barrier Number One from an interview with Michael Brickner, City of Valparaiso Chief of Police, 2013 Transcript for Barrier Number One Michael Brickner, City of Valparaiso […]
Connective Tissue
“…that was fascinating, having a process where I feel I really met those actors and that creative team and really shared something with them. But I’ve never met them in real life.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Connective Tissue The Coronavirus pandemic has clearly thrown up barriers to our ability to gather physically together, […]
The Neighborhood
“Nobody ever said, ‘Hey, you’re a Mexican,’ or ‘Hey, you’re an Italian’ or anything like that.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for The Neighborhood Did he ever suffer any discrimination? I don’t know. Because I was a kid and he was working in the mill. My mom definitely did not suffer any, I don’t think, […]
School Days
“I was the only Caucasian in the whole class.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for School Days I went to Froebel School, kindergarten, in about 1948. My kindergarten class was basically all white. I had Mrs. Reising for a kindergarten teacher. And I remember that everybody had to have a rug. And at ten o’clock […]
The Patch
“Anybody who was not well-connected, you go to the Patch.” Edited by Welcome Project Intern Ella Speckhard Transcript for The Patch My grandmother, my mother’s mother, was a twin. And they left Poland and they didn’t speak English. They had a note on their—pinned to their thing: Chicago. And so, they, you know, landed in […]
The Concerned Latins Organization
“And they really—under the umbrella of education, housing, and employment—try to confront a lot of the discrimination and issues that the community has faced in the region.” Historian Emiliano Aguilar, doctoral student Northwestern University Transcript for The Concerned Latins Organization One: The Introduction of Latinx Communities to Northwest Indiana I think one of the most […]
In This Community
“If I wasn’t at home or at school, I was in East Chicago hanging out with my grandparents.” Nicole Martinez-LeGrand, Multicultural Collections Coordinator, Library and Archives Division, Indiana Historical Society. Transcript for In This Community My great-grandmother and her first husband, Anna and Felix, came from Mexico City. My great-grandmother was born somewhere else. I […]