- Collection:
- Civil Rights in Black and Brown
- Title:
- Oral History Interview with Elvira Martinez, July 20, 2016
- Creator:
- Enriquez, Sandra
Martinez, Elvira - Date of Original:
- 2016-07-20
- Subject:
- Persons
Ethnic groups
Civil rights - People:
- Martinez, Elvira
- Location:
- United States, Texas, Harris County, Baytown, 29.7355, -94.97743
- Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
biographies (literary works)
interviews - Type:
- MovingImage
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- Elvira Martinez was born in 1929 in Baytown, Texas. Her father lived in "El Campo," the Humble Oil and Refinery Company community for their predominately Mexican American male employees. Martinez remembers growing up in the company community and how families forged deep bonds. She attended the Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School, the Baytown Mexican School that was originally funded by the Humble Oil and Refinery Company. Through the music program at the Baytown Mexican School, Martinez was able to travel the country as a player in the group La Tipica. She talks about the development of the Baytown Mexican School and how it served as the first ESL program. Martinez also discusses the role that Dr. Antonio Bañuelos played in the development of La Tipica, how La Tipica was portrayed as an "authentic" Mexican group from Jalisco, how she had to act like she did not know English while traveling throughout the nation, the Mexican musicians she encountered during her involvement in La Tipica, and how this female music group played for WWII bond drives at the behest of the Humble Oil and Refinery Company. Martinez addresses the role of Mexican celebrations, Baytown Mexican School's role in the creation of Felix Tijerina's Little School of 400, how she petitioned the U.S. government for the creation of flood insurance and government flood monies after she lost her home in Baytown, and how she assisted her niece, Eugenia Rios, in establishing a historical marker for the Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School.
- Metadata URL:
- https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth987514/
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- 7 video recordings (1 hr., 52 min., 4 sec.) : sd., col.
- Original Collection:
- https://crbb.tcu.edu/interviews/interview-with-elvira-martinez
- Contributing Institution:
- University of North Texas. Libraries
- Rights:
-
