Sara Miller (nee Garcia)

San Antonio, Texas

March 18, 2008

Jessica Manriquez

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Spring 2008

Did your mother and father also work in the fields?
Yes, my father and mother also worked in the fields and they loved it any chance they would get they would always go to the fields. My uncle was the one that got us the jobs and was the one that would tell us where we would go next and we of course we had to go because at that time he was the only one that actually knew his was around the towns.

Did your siblings also work in the fields or were you the only one?
Well my brothers were the ones that were originally suppose to work in the fields because my father would say that it wasn't right for me to work there, but I knew that he just didn't want me working around the boys friends. My sister was the only one that stayed in school, all the boys had to work in the fields, but I also wanted to work in the field so I only went up to the 12th grade I didn't stay around to graduate because of all the jobs that I had. Since I was the oldest and dropped out of school my father made me work even more so I did.

How long did you work in the fields and did you enjoy it?
I worked in the fields till I got married with your grandfather, my father didn't want me working because since I got married he was suppose to support me and I was suppose to stay home and wash clothes or clean. I hated it I was so use to working that as soon as we left Pharr to move to Lubbock I had to get a job. I did enjoy working in the fields, even today I'm still picking the oranges from the tree.

Was it your choice to work in the fields?
Well, yes it was my choice since everyone in my family was working there it was easier for me to work there with them and I wanted to prove to my father that I was a hard worker just like my brothers

What did you pick in the fields?
We did a lot of picking we had cotton, tomatoes, cherries, and grapes. We would pick the tomatoes and grapes in California those were my favorite because there were times that my father would give me and the boys a grape cause we were working so hard. I can still remember the look on the boys' faces when they got a grape from father, they just ran around.

How much picking did you have to do? Where?
We did have to do much, my father was the one that would tell us what we had to pick he would divide us into sections and we only would pick what he would tell us. He would always put me with my brother not the youngest one but the one older than him and he would do most of the work but i would still give him a hand. We picked every were around Texas in Pharr, Lubbock and California.

What kind of transportation did you'll have to get from one place to the other?
My father didn't have the a car yet at that time he ended up getting one in the 70's but by that time it was too late because I was already married and had moved from where they were, but my uncle was the one with the truck he would come by early in the mornings and we would all jump in his truck we weren't the only ones that he picked up in the mornings so we had to ride standing up in the back of the truck my mother was the one that would go in the front with this my uncle and father, the kids had to go in the back with all the other workers

Did you get to keep most of the money that you earned from all your jobs?
NO, i didn't get to keep the money since i was still living with my parents at the time and since i started working at a very young age my parents were the one that kept the money. My father said that he was going to save it for when i decide to get married they would have the money already saved up and that's how they did it, my father would give me some money at times if i wanted to buy a coke or something to snack on, or to buy myself a dress so i didn't really mind that he would get all the money. But he would give my mother some money every month so that she can go and buy what we needed around the house.

Did you have utilities in your home such as water and light?
Yes, we had water and light at the house but since most of the time we weren't home so everything was turned off until we would come back from working so that really saved us a lot

Did being a migrant worker affect you in school?
No, i don't really think it did i mean the school were i went there were some girls that would look at me you know kinda funny but because I was Mexican. After a while they started being nice to me and at lunch we would trade our food because they had never had Mexican food so my mom would make me some kind of tacos and they had sandwiches so we would trade our food, that's how we became friends.

What was school like, did you have many friends?
I wouldn't say i had many friends but i had a couple of them, i had my own little group of girls that i would talk to all the time but once i left school i never really talked to them again i was busy working some of them would come and visit me when i was working at the drive thru as a "Car Hop" but i really never kept in touch with them.

Would you say that the education system has changed from what it was then?
Oh yes, i think that it wasn't as hard as it is for you guys now, they have a lot of things now that you have to take and back then no, you would just go to school. I do think it changed but you're doing a good job cause you didn't drop out like me which is good.

What was the style that most of the kids your age were in?
Well, I would always were dresses i think that was the style back then or maybe it was just me but i liked them. If not that i would wear jeans but that was mostly when i was around the house cleaning or doing something because i didn't want to mess us any of my dresses especially since my father was the one that would give me the money to buy them i didn't want him to think that i wasn't taking care of them.

Were you allowed to go out and have fun?
Well, it depended if we did our jobs around the house, I know my family loved to go out and dance so on like Fridays we would make sure that we did everything we had to do so that when we asked our father they he would say yes, my brothers always had to go because then the girls weren't allowed to go but if my father wanted to go then we would all go as a family and no one would stay at the house.

What is something that you have now that you didn't have then?
Well, I have a car now. It was hard back then when we didn't have one car we had to ask for rides. Other than that i don't have to work that much now as I did back then. As long as I have a book in my hand and a Coke in the other, I'm happy.

Is there something else you would like to add to this interview?
Well, just that I'm glad to have helped you with your school work. I really enjoyed spending the day with you and looking at the pictures and telling you all about my past which was hard to remember some of the date but I think I got it down good.

ANALYSIS