Margarita, Interview by Marina Lopez 20 October, 2016
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- Title:
- Margarita, Interview by Marina Lopez 20 October, 2016
- Date:
- 2016
- Interviewer:
- López, Marina
- Description:
- Margarita was born in Santiago Juxtlahuaca in a very small town in the Sierra de Oaxaca, Mexico. Much of her childhood was spent in a shelter for children, where she suffered from the lack of family affection and from economic shortcomings. At sixteen, she went to live with her uncles in Mexico City and began working. "I was rebellious. I wanted to learn, to get out of poverty, to wear beautiful clothes," she recalls. When she returned to Oaxaca, she worked as a bilingual employee at a small local bank. She met a boy who was a seasonal worker in the United States, and they got married and had two children. Facing the scarcity of resources in Mexico, her husband decided to migrate again, and this time she joined him. They left their children with their mother-in-law and went to California to work in agriculture. They missed their children terribly and considered returning to Mexico, but in the end, they decided that it was better for the children to join them in the United States. Together they traveled and worked in different parts of the country until they finally settled in South Carolina.Margarita nació en Santiago Juxtlahuaca en un pueblo muy pequeño de la Sierra de Oaxaca, México. Gran parte de su infancia transcurrió en un albergue para niños donde sufrió la falta de afecto familiar y las carencias económicas. A los dieciséis años se fue a vivir con unos tíos a la Ciudad de México y allí comenzó a trabajar. “Era rebelde, quería aprender, salir de la pobreza, usar ropa bonita”. Cuando volvió a Oaxaca, trabajó como empleada bilingüe en un pequeño banco local. Conoció a un muchacho que trabajaba por temporadas en Estados Unidos, se casaron y tuvieron dos niños. Cuando la necesidad económica los apremió, el decidió volver a emigrar y ella se le unió. Dejaron los niños con su suegra y fueron a California a trabajar en la agricultura. Dado que extrañaban mucho a los pequeños pensaron en volverse, pero al final decidieron que era mejor que los niños se les unieran en Estados Unidos. Todos juntos viajaron y trabajaron en distintas partes del país hasta que finalmente se establecieron en Carolina del Sur.
- Collection Title:
- The Charleston Oral History Program
- Contributing Institution:
- The Citadel Archives & Museum
- Media Type:
- Oral Histories
- Series:
- Las Voces del Lowcountry
- Topical Subject:
- Latin Americans--Southern States, Hispanic Americans--Southern States, Foreign workers and Latin American--Southern States
- Geographic Subject:
- South Carolina
- S.C. County:
- Berkeley County (S.C.)
- Language:
- Spanish
- Internet Media Type:
- audio/mpeg
- Copyright Status Statement:
- Copyright © The Citadel Archives
- Access Statement:
- All rights reserved
- Access Information:
- For more information contact The Citadel Archives
- Admin ID:
- 220817
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