R-1015 -- Luna, Martin.
North Carolina resident Martin Luna recounts his experience moving to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico in 1985 as a recently-graduated food engineering student. Luna arrived to work at the Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, North Carolina over the summer as an international student worker. Throughout the interview he describes the importance of several interpersonal relationships that shaped his work experience and that created the opportunity for him to attempt to pursue graduate school at Clemson University. He references the language barrier as a recurring challenge in his U.S. education. He also describes the role mental health had in his experiences in the U.S. Luna reflects on his experiences in both Mexico and the U.S.’s education systems, and closes the interview describing the kinds of challenges current Latin American immigrant students face within education systems and how they compare to the ones he experienced.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29328">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2023-03-31
No restrictions. Open to research
R1015_Audio.mp3
R-1008 -- Robalino, Katelyn.
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 learned along the way. Soon after graduation, she worked as a Bilingual Teaching Assistant at a Montessori school in Charlotte and subsequently moved to Louisville, KY, where she held two AmeriCorps VISTA appointments and was a staff member for local nonprofits focused on community education and advocacy. Katelyn shares reflections on many topics throughout her interview, including imposter syndrome and other challenges she has faced, her sense of purpose and justice, and her ideas about leadership and the sharing of power. Lastly, she emphasizes the value of lived experience as a professional asset, which she believes has helped her in her current role at the Town of Chapel Hill.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29340">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2023-05-30
No restrictions. Open to research
R1008_Audio.mp3
R-1004 -- Mandujano Acevedo, Nicandro.
This interview was conducted by Sophie Therber with interviewee Nicandro Mandujano Acevedo via Microsoft Teams on August 4, 2021. The main focus of this interview is Nicandro’s involvement with the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program and his experience helping farmworkers mitigate the COVID pandemic. Nicandro emphasizes the need for improved communication with farmworkers in regards to COVID and other disasters, as well as the overall challenges of working with farmworkers in North Carolina. He explains the tension between the need to develop thoughtful emergency response plans and the unexpected, unplanned nature of emergencies. Despite the hardships of COVID, Nicandro explains that the pandemic created an opportunity for better communication between farmworker health sites, collaboration with other organizations, and communication between sites and farmworkers.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29196">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2021-08-04
No restrictions. Open to research
R1004_Audio.mp3
R-1003 -- Rivera, Natalie.
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 interview is Natalie’s involvement with the Farmworker Health Program and her experience helping farmworkers mitigate the COVID pandemic and extreme weather, as well as other challenges such as HIV education, Internet access, and emergency-related communication in Spanish. Natalie describes her experience addressing disasters such as COVID and hurricanes, discussing the need to set protocols to address disasters and explains how sometimes immigrant communities do not receive the help that they need in the face of these disasters. She emphasizes the way that communities can come together to accomplish amazing feats in the face of adversity.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29193">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2021-08-05
No restrictions. Open to research
R1003_Audio.mp3
R-1002 -- Castillo, Marlene.
This oral history interview was conducted by Sophie Therber with interviewee Marlene Castillo via Zoom on August 2, 2021. The main focus is Marlene’s involvement with the Association of Mexicans in North Carolina (AMEXCAN) and her experience helping Latino immigrants mitigate the COVID pandemic and hurricanes. Marlene describes her experiencing managing AMEXCAN’s NC Latino COVID-19 Task Force, connecting a variety of stakeholders such as health departments, community-based organizations, community partners, and state leaders. A key part of Marlene’s role in addressing the COVID pandemic has to go to small businesses such as restaurants, flea markets, and stores to distribute crucial supplies and resources, as well as creating events to bring different providers together to distribute resources such as vaccines and dental screenings. She discusses the many different approaches that she and AMEXCAN have taken in order to provide as much help to immigrant communities as possible. Marlene emphasizes the need for collaboration in the face of adversity and the importance of community networks. The interviewer, Sophie Therber, is a senior at UNC Chapel Hill conducting research for her honor’s thesis in the Human Development and Family Studies department.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29190">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2021-08-03
No restrictions. Open to research
R1002_Audio.mp3
R-1001 -- Garzón, Lariza.
This oral history interview was conducted by Sophie Therber with interviewee Lariza Garzón via Zoom on August 3, 202. The main focus is Lariza’s involvement with the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry helping farmworkers mitigate the COVID pandemic, extreme weather, and other challenges such as mental health and the collective trauma that farmworkers and immigrants face. Lariza describes working to help farmworker communities recover from hurricanes and facilitate processes of healing within these communities. Lariza draws connections between the trauma of immigration to North Carolina and the trauma associated with disasters such as hurricanes and COVID, discussing the importance of allowing community members to share this trauma and have conversations about what is needed to promote collective healing. She emphasizes the humanity of farmworker communities and the magnitude of the community response to COVID.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29187">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2021-08-03
No restrictions. Open to research
R1001_Audio.mp3
R-1000 -- Valdez Place, Soraya.
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 in El Salvador. She reflects on the struggles she and her family faced and touches on the violence, natural disasters, and the rampant civil war that plagued her country. She shares the story of moving to the United States for the first time and the challenges of learning English and eventually, how she came to live in North Carolina. She also shares her experience of her time in the Peace Corp and serving abroad with her husband. Soraya speaks on the differences between life in North Carolina, specifically Catawba County, and life back in her home of El Salvador. Lastly, she touches on her work in Catawba County as a Spanish professor and a Community Outreach Specialist, serving as a bridge for the Spanish-speaking community. Soraya closes the interview by telling me about the different issues the Latinx community faces in Catawba County and her work to address these issues by creating workshops and classes through the local library system.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29184">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2022-02-10
No restrictions. Open to research
R1000_Audio.mp3
R-0996 -- Romero, Gianella.
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 identity and her experience growing up in Catawba County. She shares what the K-12 education system was like for her as someone with Latin American roots and recounts the struggles she faced in a predominantly white elementary school. She explains what it was like navigating higher education and the workplace, and figuring out her career path, sharing the lack of direction she often times experienced. Gianella speaks in depth about starting off in the healthcare industry, the challenges she experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and her career shift into the non-profit industry. She closes the interview by speaking on the resources being provided by El Centro Latino, the programs and services she and her team are currently working on, and the challenges that many of the Spanish-speaking community members in Catawba County are facing.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29173">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2022-04-20
No restrictions. Open to research
R0996_Audio.mp3
R-0986 -- Gordon, Peter.
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 he served as the doctor of a refugee camp in León, Guanajuato for three years before eventually settling in the United States. In the first interview, Peter Gordon begins his father’s story in the 1930s when Sam Gordon served in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War and attended medical school in Montpellier, France. In 1942, as Nazi occupation threatened the lives of Jews living in France, Sam Gordon, his wife Beata Babad, and son Andre Chrabolowski escaped from Marseille by boat after securing an entrance visa to Mexico. This second interview covers Sam Gordon’s experiences in Mexico from 1943 through the summer of 1946, where he became the head doctor at a camp (Colonia Santa Rosa) for Polish refugees in León, Guanajuato, and where Beata Babad started a writing career in the Communist party. In the third interview, Peter Gordon narrates his father’s emigration and permanent settlement in the United States in Washington, D.C. Peter Gordon is Professor in the Cognitive Psychology Program within the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill. The interview was conducted in Davie Hall on the UNC campus by Hannah Gill, Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas and Principal Investigator of the New Roots/Nuevas Raíces Oral Histories.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/28612">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2018-12-07
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0986_Audio.mp3
R-0987 -- Gordon, Peter.
This oral history interview is the third in a three-part series with Peter Gordon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on 25 January 2019. 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 he served as the doctor of a refugee camp in León, Guanajuato for three years before eventually settling in the United States. In the first interview, Peter Gordon begins his father’s story in the 1930s when Sam Gordon served in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War and attended medical school in Montpellier, France. In 1942, as Nazi occupation threatened the lives of Jews living in France, Sam Gordon, his wife Beata Babad, and son Andre Chrabolowski escaped from Marseille by boat after securing an entrance visa to Mexico. The second interview covers Sam Gordon’s experiences in Mexico from 1943 through the summer of 1946, where he became the head doctor at a camp (Colonia Santa Rosa) for Polish refugees in León, Guanajuato, and where Beata Babad started a writing career in the Communist party. In this third interview, Peter Gordon narrates his father’s emigration and permanent settlement in the United States in Washington, D.C. Peter Gordon is Professor in the Cognitive Psychology Program within the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill. The interview was conducted in Davie Hall on the UNC campus by Hannah Gill, Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas and Principal Investigator of the New Roots/Nuevas Raíces Oral Histories.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/28609">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2019-01-25
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0987_Audio.mp3