Willie Chavez (Guillermo O. Chavez)

Containers:

Network storage SA0008-SET-001

Scope and content:

This interview records the viewpoints of Willie Chavez (and his wife) about life as recent immigrants in America. Talks briefly about his experiences in the U.S. before coming to the Valley; illegal alien/visa status and recent citizenship as a result of the 1987 amnesty. Mentions reasons for coming to this country; separation from his family. Talks about different jobs he's had (ranch hand in Texas and Oklahoma); more recently in Bridgewater, Va. at the Perdue Processing Poultry Plant. Mentions the language barrier and attempts to learn English (through general association with friends and co-workers). Compares his economic and work situation in Mexico and the U.S. Talks about the traditional structure of the Mexican family and cultural and educational assimilation of and changes in his two children. Briefly mentions discrimination; stereotyping and attitudes among the general community. His wife mentions the differences in the place of the woman in Mexican and American society. Recorded at the apartment of Willie Chavez and family (wife, two children and brother), in Bridgewater, Va., Feb. 10, 1993.

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