SOCORRO – The cluster of buildings surrounded by cotton fields holds a hidden history dating back to a period when the U.S. relied on the strong-armed men from Mexico known as braceros.
“We are a National Historic Landmark you know for the same significance as the Alamo or Ellis Island. So we’re so, so incredibly grateful, that not only our community sees the importance of that, but also people at the national level,” said Victor Reta, Socorro Historic Preservation Officer, during a recent tour. “We’re very proud to be the custodians and the stewards of it.”
Fundraising is underway to build a Bracero Museum and Cultural center and to pay for the historic restoration needed to protect and restore the deteriorating buildings site. Supported by an initial $750,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation and an additional $1.05 million in Congressional funding, additional $35 million is needed to complete the project. The city of Socorro plans to break ground on the bracero museum in October.
The national recognition resonates with millions of families across the country, descendants of the Braceros, who trace their American story to this spot. Overall, nearly 5 million men took part in the program from 1942 through 1964.
Selia Mota Casper, executive director of Latinos in Heritage in Conservation, spent years searching for a place that embodies the bracero story.
“And there it was in Socorro after all this time. It was just remarkable that this special and sacred place was still there, that it still existed,” Mota Casper said.
The site known as Rio Vista was the first permanent Bracero reception center and the last still standing. Less than one percent of the places listed in the Nation Historic Register are associated with Latino history or heritage according to Mota Casper. “Our sites are typically demolished, erased, replaced and not a part of that narrative,” she said.
The site known as Rio Vista was one of five bracero reception centers on the border and the last still standing. Under an agreement between the U.S. and Mexican governments, men from across Mexico came to work to help put food on the table so American men could go off to war.
The Rio Vista reception center opened in 1951 at the height of the Korean War. The desperately needed workers received a warm welcome.
“There were two flags standing there side-by-side, one American Flag and one Mexican flag. And there was a big sign that said Bienvenidos and they had Mariachis playing for them,” Mota Casper said.
But historians say the men also went through a degrading health screening process that included being sprayed with chemicals including the now banned insecticide DDT.
“They’d get in, they'd be deloused; they’d be stripped down naked. Their hands would be checked to see how many calluses they had. Their muscles would be checked to see if they were strong,” Mota Casper said.
Some descendants of braceros are only now learning about their family history including both Mota Casper and Reta who discovered their grandfathers were braceros while working for the Historic Landmark designation. “It’s been a passion project of mine. The labor of my life,” Reta said.
During the tour, Reta pointed out the structures surrounding a large courtyard. There was also a dining hall and temporary sleeping quarters, and a chapel.
“We do have over 20 mixed material buildings,” said Reta. “Some of them are adobe. Some of them are wood. Some of them are metal. Either way they are each significant and they are each important.”
For some, including Leticia Pacillas, this is a sacred spot, the place where the dreams of her father began. He was a bracero. He died two years ago at the age of 94.
“Our fathers and grandfathers struggled to come here and work and went through a lot and because of them many of us are here,”
Jose Rodriguez is part of the last generation of braceros to come through this place in 1964. Now 81, he spends time at the Socorro senior citizen center housed in one of the restored buildings. It’s the same place where he arrived as a young bracero. He remembers the hard work in the fields of West Texas
“I harvested melons. I picked them and then put the cantaloupes in a sack slug over my shoulder,” he said.
Like many of his generation, Rodriguez is a man of few words, not prone to complaining when talking about his experience. He’s proud to be a bracero and glad their contributions are finally being recognized.
“It will be beautiful to remember again that time when we were protagonists,” he said.
Copyright 2024 KTEP
