Boulder County Latino History
Boulder County Latino History
Teaching Our Stories
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  • Reaching Out to Migrant Workers, 1966-1980

Reaching Out to Migrant Workers, 1966-1980

This set deals with labor, education, and child care issues among migrant workers in Boulder County, and how local people tried to improve their conditions.

Full Text PDF: Chapter 6: Being Chicano, Migrant Workers, and New Jobs, 1966-1980

“Fight for Your Rights!”: El Aguila interview with Secundino Herrera, p. 1

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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“Fight for Your Rights!”: El Aguila interview with Secundino Herrera, p. 2

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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“Fight for Your Rights!”: El Aguila interview with Secundino Herrera, p. 3

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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“Migrants’ Search for Jobs”: El Aguila interview with Tivi Gauna, p. 2

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

Part of description of a 1979 interview with Tivi Gauna, who discusses aspects of how migrant workers lived, especially labor conditions and child care as workers went into fields. View Collection Item

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“Some Days We Didn’t Eat”: El Aguila interview with Maria Velasquez, p. 1

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Farmers concerned about irresponsibility of migrant workers

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Hardship of migrant living, 1971, p. 1

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Migrant workers love Colorado, life of travel

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Our Backyard

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Photo from 1990 of the back of a migrant family’s’ house

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Winter looking bleak for migrants at Fort Lupton camp, 1969, p. 1

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Woman of purpose: Esther Blazon, 1974

February 9, 2016 / Mary Ellen Graziani /

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Historian Comments

During the 1970s, Boulder’s Chicano leaders attempted to develop a stronger sense of shared identity among all Latinos. In so doing, they were trying to lessen the gaps that had developed on the basis of when a family had arrived in this region, whether they were urban or rural, and especially between settled residents and the migrant worker families that came through each summer to provide the labor needed by local farmers. Up until that time, most local people had turned a blind eye to the lives of the migrants, despite the often terrible working and living conditions in which adults and children found themselves. During the 1970s, however, Chicanos and reform-minded Anglos worked to draw attention to the lives of migrants and the hardships they faced and took action to try to lessen the problems. Among those activities were summer programs for children and teens from migrant families. One project produced a little booklet with written accounts and photos of interviews a group of teens had done with Latinos in this area, most of whom had been migrant workers themselves when they were younger but had gone on to better employment as adults.

Teaching Boulder County Latino History is an extension of the Boulder County Latino History Project. This site provides resources for those interested in teaching Boulder County Latino History. The teaching resources are grounded in the books written by CU Boulder’s Distinguished Professor Marjorie McIntosh.

There are three central components to this site. The Lesson Database provides lessons for K-12 teachers. Each lesson uses primary sources and is grounded in the books by Prof. McIntosh. Beyond the curated lessons teachers are encouraged to explore the Primary Source Sets and access the full text of Prof. McIntosh’s books. The book outlines link lesson plans and primary sources to each chapter. Teachers and students are welcome to download all or parts of the books to support their learning.

Our Work

Lesson Topics

Businesses Celebrations/ ceremonies Children Civil rights activity Culture/ identity issues Deportation Education/ schools Employment, manufacturing/ unskilled Employment, professional/ skilled Families Farm work/ agriculture/ ranching Food/ cooking Government/ government programs/ laws Health/ medicine/ healing Houses/ living places Immigration Interviews done in 2013 Labor unions/ strikes Languages (Spanish and English) Mexico/ Mexicans Migrant workers Mining Music/ dancing/ art/ recreation Neighborhoods New Mexico/ New Mexicans Organizations/ clubs Police/ Sheriffs/ I.C.E. officials Political or community participation Quantitative information Racism/ discrimination/ segregation Religion/ churches Soldiers/ wars/ veterans Sports/ outdoor activities Transportation/ cars University of Colorado/ college students Women Work done by women and children

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CU School of Education

CU Office for Outreach and Engagement/ University of Colorado Boulder

The Colorado Health Foundation
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