Photos & Excerpts

Photos & excerpts from Mexicans in San José

Mexican women transitioned out of working in the fields and canneries and into the electronics industry as assembly workers. In 1980, Vickie Romero worked at her station as a senior final inspector at I.B.M. in department 123, building 5 on Cottle Road in South San José. Vickie retired from I.B.M. in 1999 after twenty-two years of service. (Courtesy of Vickie Romero.)

A farmworker family lives in a home provided by the landowner in the 1950s. Children play around their father, Jose Garcia. A carpet covers the dirt floor of the home. Pots and pans in the cabinet illustrate the tight living quarters of the Garcia family. (Courtesy of the Felix Garcia family.)

Table of Contents

Foreword 6

Acknowledgments 7

Introduction 8

1. The Early Years 9

2. The New Almadén Quicksilver Mines and Spanishtown 23

3. Cannery and Agriculture Work 35

4. East San José 51

5. Chicano and Youth Movements 65

6. Leadership and Organizations 79

7. Religion and Family 97

8. Arts and Entertainment 113

Bibliography 127

Foreword by Stephen Pitti

This volume makes clear that the San José area has an important Mexican history and that people of Mexican descent can rightly claim to have shaped many of the region’s most important historical developments. The authors of Mexicans in San José have brilliantly assembled a visual record of this place and of people who in fact have mattered to the city.

These images show that the history of Mexicans in San José was one defined by working people, by families and individuals who contributed their labor in many types of jobs. But it is clear that local Mexicans have done far more than collect paychecks. As the following pages suggest, tens of thousands of Mexican children have passed through city schools and churches. Residents have established clubs and held parties to stay in touch with kin from the same town, state, or region—for instance, Eagle Pass, Texas, or Jalisco, Mexico. Local families have held memorable

gatherings in city parks, they have competed on area baseball diamonds, and they have spent their money in downtown businesses. Some have led national organizations working to end racial and economic discrimination in the United States. The history of Mexicans in San José is, therefore, a history of families, of leisure and good times, and of efforts to achieve civil rights.

This book reminds us to celebrate these truths, to recognize the longstanding presence of Mexicans in San José, and to preserve our photographs and memories of people whose histories have too often been forgotten in Santa Clara County.

—Stephen J. Pitti

Professor of History and American Studies

Yale University

Students of W. C. Overfelt High School, their family members, and community supporters marched on Story Road in response to the lack of Mexican American instructors and curriculum addressing Mexican American history and culture at the school in the late 1970s. The marchers carried flags of La Virgen de Guadalupe, a revered religious figure for Mexicans and Mexican Americans. (Photograph by and courtesy of Paul Ortiz.)

Introduction

"Mexicans in San José" is a cultural and local history book that illustrates through its photographs the rich history of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in San José from 1777 to 1999. With over 250 photographs, it reveals the founding of San José in 1777, Mexican miners in the nineteenth century who helped San José become one of the top mercury producers in the world, and Mexican laborers of the 20th century who picked, canned, dried, and packaged fruits and vegetables for America’s dinner table. The book demonstrates countless heroines and heroes, such as labor leader Cesar Chavez, dedicated their lives to improving conditions in their neighborhoods and communities through grassroots organizing and collective action. The book ends in 1999, when the City of San José acknowledged the contributions of Mexicans with the grand opening of the Mexican Heritage Plaza, a cultural center for the performing arts.

This book is an introductory documentation of Mexican cultural history in San José from 1777 to 1999 through photographs. It is a stepping stone for future scholars and writers to complete further research and publications about the rich history of Mexican people.

KSJO radio announcer Jesus Valenzuela participates in the 1950 Cinco de Mayo parade with three women in a car and his son on the car hood, wearing a child’s mariachi outfit. (Courtesy of the Jesus Valenzuela family.)

On the Cover: Taken in 1949, this image shows Mexican women taking an afternoon break on the lawn outside of the Tri-Valley Cannery located on Tenth and Taylor Streets in San José. From left to right are Rachel ?, Edelmira ?, Idolina Garcia, Maria Guerrero Alvarado, and Alicia Saenz. (Courtesy of Maria Guerrero Alvarado.)

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