WOMEN of MEXICAN HERITAGE in DOUGLAS, ARIZONA by Cecelia
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Breaking Borders: Women of Mexican Heritage in Douglas, Arizona Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Lewis, Cecelia Ann Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 11/10/2021 07:37:02 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/620954 BREAKING BORDERS: WOMEN OF MEXICAN HERITAGE IN DOUGLAS, ARIZONA by Cecelia Ann Lewis __________________________ Copyright © Cecelia Ann Lewis A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2016 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Cecelia Lewis, titled Breaking Borders: Women of Mexican Heritage in Douglas, Arizona and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________________________________________Date: 9 June 2016 Lydia Otero ______________________________________________________________Date: 9 June 2016 Anna O’Leary ______________________________________________________________Date: 9 June 2016 Raquel Rubio Goldsmith _____________________________________________________________ Date: 9 June 2016 Damián Baca ______________________________________________________________Date: 9 June 2016 Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. _______________________________________________ Date: 9 June 2016 Dissertation Director: Lydia Otero 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under the rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Cecelia Ann Lewis 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported by the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute PreDoctoral Grant, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; the Confluence Circle Graduate Fellowship Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; and Write to Change Grant, Clemson, South Carolina. This research could not have been possible without the cooperation, openness, and willingness of the women and family members of the women featured in this study. I am deeply indebted to you all for opening up your homes, hearts, and memories to me. A special thank you to my committee members: Lydia Otero, Anna O’Leary, Raquel Rubio Goldsmith, and Damián Baca, for their direction, constructive criticism, and encouragement. Additionally, I would like to express my appreciation to my family, beginning with my parents Francisco J. and Lillian B. Durazo, for teaching me how to strive for what is possible. Although my father did not live to witness this achievement, I would like to thank him for teaching me that I am not better than or less than any other human being. Additionally, I would like to thank my best friend, partner, and father of our children, DeForest S. Lewis, Jr. He and our daughters, Nieves and Isla, have walked this journey with me. Thank you for your support and the hours you spent helping me, particularly with the traveling exhibit. This was truly a family affair. Finally, I would like to thank my Mexican American Studies family. You welcomed me with open arms and helped me create a reality from a dream. Special gratitude to Dra. Andrea Hernandez Holm and to Yesenia Andrade for their strength and support. You taught me that by working together anything is possible. 4 Table of Contents: List of Figures and Illustrations: 7 Abstract: 9 Introduction: 10 Relevant Literature 15 Border Theory – An Exploration into Place and Space 16 A Perspective on History 20 Life Stories: A Tool of Reclamation 22 La Facultad and its Applications 33 Other Borders 34 Reflection and Organization of Dissertation 38 Chapter One: Recovering Stories – A Process of Recovering and Collecting Stories 44 Methodology and Process 44 Recovering Stories 55 Pushing the Boundaries of Oral History with the Interview Process 57 Chapter Two: La Herida Abierta - A Brief History of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands 65 Chapter Three: A Home of Their Own 95 New Arrivals 95 Second Generation Douglasites 109 Why Douglas? Why Home? 115 Chapter Four: Education 117 Who Goes to School? 117 What is Learned 133 Access to Education 147 Chapter Five: Nosotras Juntas: Social Networking in Douglas, Arizona 150 Breaking the Mold 150 Earning their Own Wages 152 Religion 159 Organizing 161 Achieving Social Cohesion 167 Chapter Six: Public History 176 Public Presentation 180 Recognizing the Past and Applying to the Present 183 Leaving a Legacy 204 5 List of Interviews 209 Bibliography 210 6 Figures and Illustrations Figure 1: “The Lives of the Mujeres” Diagram of Triangulation 45 Figure 2: Chart of Demographic Profile of Subjects 54 Figure 3: Street Map of Bisbee, Arizona. 0406260. www.landsat.com. Accessed: 3 May 2016 80 Figure 4: Map of Douglas, Arizona. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/reports/ phelps_09291995az/images/phe-f1.gif. Accessed: 4 April 2016 81 Figure 5: “Per Cent of Foreign-Born White in Total Population, by States: 1920.” Fourteenth Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1920 Antonia I. Castañeda. ""Que Se Pudieran Defender (So You Could Defend Yourselves)": Chicanas, Regional History, and National Discourses." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 22, no. 3 (2001): 118.86 Figure 6: Carlota Ortega’s Report Card, 1936-37 128 Figure 7: Postcard featuring Josefa Vasquez Burgner and her class in Concho, AZ, circa 1917 149 Figure 8: Honorees arriving at Leaving a Legacy Museum Exhibit opening, 20 September 2014 184 Figure 9: Poets presenting at Leaving a Legacy Museum Exhibit opening, 20 September 2014 185 Figure 10: Author with honorees at Leaving a Legacy Museum Exhibit opening, 20 September 2014 187 Figure 11: Museum Board: Josefa Vasquez Burgner 189 Figure 12: Museum Board: Rosario “Chalita” Castro 190 Figure 13: Museum Board: Petra “Pete” Campas 191 Figure 14: Museum Board: Josephine Burgner de la Torre 192 7 Figure 15: Museum Board: Sally Dórame 193 Figure 16: Museum Board: Beatriz K. Durazo 194 Figure 17: Museum Board: Lupe Garcia Jordan 195 Figure 18: Museum Board: Carmen Loftis 196 Figure 19: Museum Board: Carlota Ruiz Ortega 197 Figure 20: Museum Board: Mary Hickox Robinson 198 Figure 21: Museum Board: Maria Luisa Rubio 199 Figure 22: Museum Board: Celia Salazar 200 Figure 23: Museum Board: Mary Sosa 201 Figure 24: Museum Board: Cleo Jordan Stanford 202 Figure 25: Museum Board: Ma. del Refugio Bernal Vasquez 203 8 Abstract This study examines the manifold ways in which fifteen women of Mexican heritage actively participated in the secular, spiritual, and social spheres to improve conditions for themselves and their community in Douglas, Arizona during the first half of the twentieth century. Using interviews, newspapers, US census reports, ephemera, and secondary sources, it highlights the women’s agency and the various ways they employed critical and innovative approaches to break through the economic, personal, and structural borders imposed by a corporate and industrial smelter town created by Phelps-Dodge and Company and the Calumet and Arizona Company. In this dissertation I ask, and seek to answer questions such as: why did these women of Mexican heritage choose to settle in Douglas; why did those who were born there remain; and what did this newly established town offer the women in this study that perhaps more established cities in the southwestern United States did not? Because Mexicanas are invisible in the archives and in the historical chronicles of Douglas Arizona, this dissertation employs an interdisciplinary methodology designed to highlight their actions and their contributions to their communities, city, and nation. Influenced by Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldúa, I seek to recover history, and what she refers to as la facultad, by relying on the words of the women and their families to offer answers and insight. Despite the challenges of living in the borderlands in a time of limited access to economic and social resources, these women’s contributions to history confirm that Mexicanas were not passive subalterns. 9 Introduction: Breaking Borders: Women of Mexican Heritage in Douglas, Arizona1 Rosario “Chalita” Castro was a celebrated woman in her adopted home of Douglas, Arizona. 2 Born in Santa Rosalia, Baja California in 1881, it was here where she met and married her husband Francisco and they started their family. In the early 20th century, approximately 1910, Castro3, her husband Francisco, and their family traveled to Cananea, Sonora searching