Browse Items (115 total)

Katelyn Robalino is a Community Connections Coordinator for the Affordable Housing and Community Connections Department at the Town of Chapel Hill. She was first interviewed by New Roots in 2013 when she was a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill; this 2023 interview is an update on her journey, the various professional roles she has held, and lessons…

This oral history interview was conducted by Sophie Therber with interviewee Natalie Rivera via Zoom on August 5, 2021. Natalie is from rural North Carolina and has been working with immigrant communities since college. This interview follows her many roles in organizations dedicated to immigrant health and well-being. The main focus of this…

Soraya Valdez Place is a Spanish Professor at Lenoir Rhyne University and the Community Outreach Specialist for the Catawba County Library system in Hickory, North Carolina. She is originally from San Salvador, El Salvador and first moved to the United States in 2004. Soraya tells the story of her life and explains what growing up was like for her…

Gianella Romero is the current Executive Director at El Centro Latino in Hickory, North Carolina. She begins the interview by talking about herself, her family roots, and her journey from being in the healthcare field to transitioning into her current role as Executive Director in the non-profit sector. Gianella also discusses her Mexican-American…

This oral history interview is the second in a three-part series with Peter Gordon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on December 7, 2018. Peter Gordon narrates the WWII migration story of his father, Samuel Chrabolowski Gordon (“Sam Gordon”), who was born to a Jewish family in Poland. Sam Gordon escaped Nazi persecution by migrating to Mexico, where…

This oral history interview is the first in a three-part series with Peter Gordon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on October 12, 2018. Peter Gordon narrates the WWII migration story of his father, Samuel Chrabolowski Gordon, who was born to a Jewish family in Poland. Sam Gordon escaped Nazi persecution by migrating to Mexico, where he served as the…

Jorge Gutiérrez was born in Mexico City and moved to North Carolina in 2005 with his family. At the time of the interview, he worked as the Coordinator of the Building Integrated Communities Initiative. In this interview, he describes the work of Building Integrated Communities – an initiative of the Latino Migration Project in the Institute for…

Jorge Gutiérrez shares a second interview with the Nuevas Raíces initiative. Following his work with the Building Integrated Communities initiative, Jorge was hired as an interpreter at UNC hospitals in UNC Chapel Hill to facilitate Spanish and English communications. In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic spread to North Carolina,…

Yesenia Pedro Vicente shares a second interview with the Nuevas Raíces initiative. Yesenia relates her experiences teaching in Phoenix, Arizona for several years after graduating from UNC in 2013. She draws contrasts between living in North Carolina and the Southwestern U.S., where there are much larger communities with Latin American heritage. She…

This interview was conducted in Spanish by interviewer Alexandra Graham with interviewee Dr. Vicky Muñiz Quiñones. Throughout the interview, Dr. Muñiz Quiñones tells us about her history in education as a student and then as a professor. She also recounts to us a brief history of migration from Puerto Rico to the contiguous United States, although…