Uncovering History's Voices

A spark of curiosity within my community was kindled through a high school essay where I wanted to explore the history of the large ASARCO (formerly known as the American Smelting and Refining Company) smelter facility on the west side of El Paso. Learning about the nearby Smeltertown community and the industrial history of El Paso conjured images so remote from the disused stacks and vacant tracks that still stood prior to the Fall of 2012. It felt like uncovering a secret history of something so familiar, yet something so seldom acknowledged in the greater scheme of things. My post-secondary pursuits in the years to come would draw me elsewhere, but through my work this summer, this curiosity was allowed to thrive and uncover more about the rich history of the Borderland.

Through the Institute of Oral History located at The University of Texas at El Paso, I was able to immerse myself in the history of El Paso. It began with a tentative idea by IOH Director and UTEP Associate Professor of History Dr. Yolanda Leyva, drawing inspiration from Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark. Recognizing the incremental steps that pave the way for radical change in the face of adversity, the scope of this project was to provide a similar lens to the El Paso region. Exploring "Sitios de Esperanza" (Sites of Hope), I would be tasked with exploring inspirational tales connected to historical sites in the Borderland. Yet to do this, I would have to immerse myself with a history I was unfamiliar with. I would like to consider my first month with the IOH as something of a crash course on the history of our city.

I had lived to see the El Paso floods of 2006 (caused by weather which was not dissimilar to this year’s unusually wet summer), saw the demolition of the ASARCO plant, and walked through the narrow streets that ran through the heart of UTEP before its new Centennial Plaza was established. Yet my lived experiences would be eclipsed by nearly two centuries of recorded history, as a colonial outpost quickly expanded by the start of the twentieth century, earning its namesake as El Paso del Norte.

Priming my knowledge of the borderland, I was referred to Mario T. Garcia’s Desert Immigrants and David Dorado Romo’s Ringside Seat to a Revolution. Both books challenged me to explore Mexican history primarily through the Mexican Revolution, which would be the definitive political influence across the Borderland throughout the early twentieth century. Additionally, Desert Immigrants focused on the immigrant community in its analysis of history, providing a perspective that deviates from the non-Hispanic lens that even the history El Paso is not immune to. It was through this text I began to see hope in a manner akin to Solnit. There was hope to be found in institutions that historically chose to serve underprivileged communities in El Paso. Yet what makes these institutions so powerful is that many of them can still be found operating to this very day, primarily through the pillars of faith and education. Their endurance, and the legacy these sites hold, served as an inspiration as I uncovered more about the history of El Paso.

Additionally, a rich database of interviews uncovered people’s lived experiences within the city of El Paso, including such sites as Aoy, Douglass, Bowie, and encounters with renowned clergymen within the community. I would review these accounts to get a broader scope of these sites, and even encounter small counter-narratives from those who had found themselves involved with these institutions. With a slew of interviews dating back to the 1960s, this archive would prove invaluable and serves as a testament to the continuing endeavors IOH to record these accounts for posterity.

While all this provided knowledge, the most influential moment came through a day trip to El Segundo Barrio, a historically Hispanic community located in South El Paso. This is where my work dovetailed with another project, Barrios of El Paso. The aim of this endeavor was to present a public history project that would shed light on the significance of El Segundo and potentially examine other barrios throughout the city.  Starting our sojourn by Sacred Heart Church, we turned to the mural beside it, found on Father Rahm Street.


Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas.  (Image courtesy of Jesse Marin.)

The mural depicted celebrated figures from the Segundo Barrio, including Father Rahm himself, novelist Mariano Azuela, Pancho Villa partaking of an amusingly anachronistic plate of food from El Paso's culinary landmark Chico’s Tacos, and even the alligators that once called downtown El Paso's San Jacinto Plaza home. Diana Lopez, a doctoral student specializing in the history of the Borderlands, suggested we turn this mural into an interactive website, highlighting the significance of each of these figures. The IOH thus combined both projects to encapsulate a brief history of El Segundo.

 
Details from Sacred Heart Church Mural. (Images courtesy of Jesse Marin.)

My work then took on a new direction as I worked to compose content to inform a new audience about the history of El Paso and these icons of the El Paso neighborhood of Chihuahuita. It was time to sift through the texts I had read and compose entries on these figures, mapping out a concise history for those wishing to learn more about the borderland. Accompanying this would be pictures of our trip through the Segundo Barrio, including photos of the Pablo Barray, Sacred Heart Church, Guillen Middle School (formerly the original site of Bowie High School, established in 1926) and the many murals of downtown El Paso. I am confident that my teammates will soon produce something wonderful in the coming academic year, something that will be accessible to anyone with an inkling of curiosity in the borderland. The repository of knowledge that has been compiled will be an invaluable resource, and I look forward to seeing the progression of their work.


Image of the Pablo Barray in El Paso, Texas.  (Image courtesy of Jesse Marin.)

In addition, the IOH continues its primary mission to collect and transcribe interviews detailing the lived experiences of those here in the Borderland. My peers continue conducting interviews online as we navigate through the pandemic. In addition to mapping out the past, in the present moment, their work will be invaluable to scholars of the future wishing to map out this time of crisis as the world continues to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The value of lived experiences is something that cannot be understated and never undermined, and I believe the IOH has recognized this since its inception. Its ongoing mission and endeavors in collecting and curating histories from throughout the borderland remains something to be admired.

I am sad that my summer tenure with the IOH has been so brief, but I found it to be such an invaluable and enriching experience that constantly has me turning my gaze to the familiar with a new perspective and an inquiring mind. Of all the figures I encountered this summer from El Paso history, I am drawn to the history Olivas Aoy. A stranger to the El Paso region, Aoy would devote the final years of his life towards the education of the underprivileged immigrants of the El Paso area. Such devotion to the betterment of the borderland through knowledge is a good analogy for the work of the IOH, and to have made a small contribution to their mission is an opportunity I am proud to have been a part of.

Written by Jesus "Jesse" Marin, Master's Research Fellow
The University of Texas at El Paso, The Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP