R-1013 -- Bredenberg, Cynthia.
Cindy Bredenberg discusses her experiences and observations as a Spanish teacher at Jordan-Matthews High School in Siler City, North Carolina. She shares about her school’s demographics and the school culture and reflects on her experiences working with students throughout her fifteen years working at Jordan-Matthews, many of whom Latinx. Cindy also describes the challenges faced by many of her students, specifically those related to financial strain, the lack of quality affordable housing, anxiety, and the impact of stigmatization by community members. She differentiates between the experiences of her U.S.-born students and those who have migrated to North Carolina from other countries, and she shares some challenges specific to her undocumented students, including the stress of financially providing for family members in their home country and lack of access to federal financial aid for higher education. Cindy also details the importance of relationship-building between teachers and students and explains how students are more likely to reach out to teachers and school staff for help if they have a previously established trusting relationship. She also describes the “grassroots” nature of helping students and shares some of the in-school and community-based resources available to students and those specifically targeted to help students newly arriving from other countries. Finally, she describes the rise of charter schools in Chatham County and shifts in school demographics.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29355">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2023-04-15
No restrictions. Open to research
R1013_Audio.mp3
R-1011 -- García Rico, Yazmin.
Yazmin García Rico is Director of Latinx and Hispanic Policy and Strategy at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS). She recounts her activism during her tenure in college, helping Latinx youth navigate college enrollment and her outreach efforts to connect farmworker communities with healthcare and other resources. Thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, Yazmin was able to continue helping farmworkers after college in various positions, and also earn a Master’s degree in social work at UNC-Chapel Hill. Yazmin expresses deep regret at her father’s passing from COVID-19 at a time before vaccines or treatments were available. She subsequently joined NC DHHS in her current role to coordinate vaccine distributions and address disparities in the pandemic’s impact on the state’s Latinx population. Yazmin’s journey is marked both by her own determination and the determination of others in her network to help open doors for her. In that vein, Yazmin emphasizes the need for support systems that can help uplift Latinx youth and address underrepresentation across state leadership.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/29349">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2023-04-21
No restrictions. Open to research
R1011_Audio.mp3
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-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-0984 -- Vicente, Yesenia Pedro.
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 returned to North Carolina in 2018 to be closer to her family in western North Carolina and work in the Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill. Yesenia discusses the impact of the APPLES Global Course Guanajuato Course that she participated in in 2013 as an undergraduate at UNC. She talks about her hometown, Morganton, NC, and how it has changed in the last few years. She describes with enthusiasm the annual Food Festival of St. Charles Borromeo at her Morganton church, where community members with many different backgrounds that include Hmong, Guatemalan, Polish, Irish, and African come together to celebrate their heritages. Yesenia also describes the importance of her family’s Guatemalan Mayan heritage and her parents’ native language, Q’anjob’al.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/28579">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2018-11-02
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0984_Audio.mp3
R-0989 -- Quiñones, Vicky Muñiz.
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 she does not consider Puerto Rico to be part of the United States. She explains why she believes this and then gives us an account of why many Puerto Ricans are moving to North Carolina, which is now the state with the twelfth largest Puerto Rican population. Dr. Muñiz Quiñones then gives us a brief account of her personal migration story from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017. She describes the difficulties of leaving behind her friends and colleagues at the University of Puerto Rico and moving to North Carolina. She tells us about how she initially felt disoriented but slowly began regaining a sense of independence after several months.Dr. Vicky Muñiz Quiñones was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and relocated to North Carolina in 2017. She worked for 25 years at the University of Puerto Rico where she was a professor and Dean of General Studies. Dr. Muñiz Quiñones earned her doctorate in Urban Social Geography at Syracuse University.
The interviewer, Alexandra Graham, is a graduate student at UNC. She is working on her Master of Arts in Teaching with a specialty in Elementary Education and teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). She recently graduated from UNC with a degree in Hispanic Linguistics and a second major in Economics. Spanish is her second language.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/28576">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2018-10-12
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0989_Audio.mp3
R-0901 -- Fernandez, Eduardo.
Eddy Fernandez is a 3rd-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill who discusses his family’s experience immigrating to Siler City, North Carolina from Texas for employment in the Townsend Chicken Processing Plant. He also discusses his experience growing up in Siler City, a rural area that was primarily Latinx/Latino/Latina. Fernandez explains the way in which the large presence of mental health issues related to migration that he witnessed among his friends growing up has impacted his career choice in the field of public health. Fernandez discusses how he conducted a research project in 2017 on youth mental health as part of the Building Integrated Communities Initiative with the Town of Siler City.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/27563">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2018-04-05
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0901_Audio.mp3
R-0906 -- Lima, Isabella.
This interview was conducted by Alexandra Graham with interviewee Isabella Lima. Throughout the interview, Isabella talks about her experiences in ESL--English as a Second Language--classes in elementary school when she first arrived in North Carolina from São Paulo, Brazil. She explains the structure of her classes, how she felt about them, how she learned English, and who her main supporters were as she was learning her second language. She shares about how bilingualism has shaped her as well as how she believes ESL classes can be improved in the public-school system. The interview, lasting 43 minutes and 17 seconds, took place in a parked car outside of a taco truck in Carrboro, NC. The car was running and there were occasional outside sounds from cars driving by or other miscellaneous noises. The interview took place on March 28, 2018.
Alexandra is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from Wilmington, North Carolina. She is a Hispanic Linguistics and Economics double major graduating in May 2018. After she graduates, she will be pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching at UNC-Chapel Hill with a graduation date in 2019. Isabella is a senior at Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina. She will be studying at a four-year university beginning in the Fall of 2018, but she has not yet decided which university she will choose. She wishes to pursue a career in criminal justice and she has hopes of becoming an FBI agent. The interviewer and interviewee have known each other for three years through a mentorship program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill called N.C. Sli. N.C. Sli matches Latinx high school students in central North Carolina with college students at UNC. It also provides identity workshops and college preparatory classes.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/27560">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2018-04-09
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0906_Audio.mp3
R-0900 -- Martínez, Raúl Benjamin Dávalos.
This interview was conducted by interviewer Alexandra Graham with interviewee Raúl Dávalos Martínez. He goes by Ben, which is short for his middle name Benjamín. Throughout the interview, Ben talks about how he learned English upon arriving to North Carolina when he was almost seven years old. He describes how his family and ESL--English as a second language--instructors motivated and assisted him and his twin sister in learning the language. Ben shares stories about his interactions with English-speakers when he first moved to NC as well as what the process of learning his second language looked like. He tells us about his proficiency of Spanish and English now and explains what impact bilingualism has on him. He also shares what his ESL classes and tutoring sessions looked like, as well as why he feels ESL is important and how it could be improved based on his experiences and observances. The interview, lasting 55 minutes and 19 seconds, took place in an empty classroom at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) on April 9. There were occasional sounds coming from people entering and exiting the building, but the setting was usually quiet. Alexandra is a senior at UNC from Wilmington, North Carolina. She is a Hispanic Linguistics and Economics double major graduating in May 2018. After she graduates, she will be pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ben is a Public Policy major, also at UNC, with a minor in Entrepreneurship. He is originally from Saltillo, Mexico, but has also lived in Norway, Canada, and the United States. His immediate family currently resides in Cary, NC and he lives in Chapel Hill, NC during the school year. The interviewer and interviewee know each other through UNC and are both on staff for an organization called N.C. Sli, a college preparatory and mentorship program for Latinx high school students.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/27550">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
2018-04-09
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0900_Audio.mp3
R-0868 -- Ornelas, Laura.
Laura habla sobre las dificultades de mudarse de Seattle a Chapel Hill cuando tenía nueve años de edad. Ella recuerda que todos sus maestros creían que se había mudado directamente de México porque no hablaba inglés. Ella discute sobre cómo en los Estados Unidos ha aprendido a decir que es mexicana y en México ha aprendido a identificarse como americana. En cada uno de estos países se ha enfrentado a las complejidades de determinar cómo identificarse en una sociedad que quiere asignarle una identidad. Ella habla de cómo sus padres lidiaron con sus propias identidades desde que se mudaron a los Estados Unidos y cómo sus respectivos antecedentes influyeron a su integración en la sociedad americana. Laura también discute sobre la diferencia entre las experiencias migratorias de sus padres y su familia y otras familias latinas y los privilegios que ella ha tenido. Ambos padres recibieron una educación y a lo largo de su vida todos los miembros de su familia han sido documentados. Laura habla de cómo su trabajo con la Iniciativa de Estudiantes Latinos en la Universidad de Carolina del Norte en Chapel Hill la ha hecho pensar en su propia experiencia como inmigrante de segunda generación y lo que ha aprendido trabajando con otros adolescentes que han pasado por el sistema educativo estadounidense. Ella discute sobre la importancia de que familias latinas tengan recursos e información para asegurar que sus hijos puedan continuar con su educación y tener éxito.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
<a href="http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sohp/id/27412">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.</a>
18 April 2017
No restrictions. Open to research.
R0868_Audio.mp3