Mexican-American Oral History Project: Interview with Manuel Contreras

Titles: Mexican-American Oral History Project: Interview with Manuel Contreras (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Manuel Contreras was born in Durango, Mexico, in 1904. He was raised by his sisters because his father was shot in a fight and his mother died at childbirth. He and his sisters had ranches that were taken away from them during the Mexican Revolution, in which Contreras fought at the age of ten. Fearing for his life, he escaped from the country in 1924. In that year he and a sister traveled from Texas to Minnesota. Later he worked in the fields in Lake Lillian and Chaska, and in 1933 he came to St. Paul. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: The Mexican Revolution, including its leaders and its effect on Contreras's family; life in St. Paul in the 1930s; work in sugar beet fields in rural Minnesota and in meat packing plants in South St. Paul; work in a munitions plant in New Brighton; family life and history; and the people and customs of St. Paul's Mexican-American community. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: In Spanish, transcribed into English.

Dates

• 07/16/1975 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Contreras, Manuel
• interviewer: Barela, Victor

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 49
• Accession Number: AV1996.92.14

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Mexican-American Oral History Project' <OH 49>

Quantity: 2 hours sound cassette 31 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 01:33:30 running time

Subjects

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