Latino oral history project expands

10 years later, Latino oral history project expands
Initiative will collect narratives from Korea, Vietnam in addition to World War II.
By Juan Castillo, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF, October 02, 2009

When she embarked on her quest in 1999 to fill history's missing pieces of Latino military service during World War II, Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez harbored modest ambitions. She figured that if her fledglingU.S. Latino and Latina World War II Oral History Project at the University of Texas could document the stories of 200 Hispanic veterans and their families, that would be a worthy accomplishment.

After all, the war was a turning point for the hundreds of thousands of Latinos who left the country as second-class citizens and returned — still suffering discrimination— to begin pouring the foundation for the Mexican American civil rights movement. Yet their stories and their voices — both from the battlefield and the home front — were missing from the scholarly research, historical accounts and mass media coverage of the "Greatest Generation."

"This is a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be," Rivas-Rodriguez said recently, adding that she misjudged how deeply the history project would resonate with Latinos across the country.

As it celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend with a dinner and symposium — and as it expands its mission to include the Korean and Vietnam wars — the oral history project is closing in on 700 interviews with aging veterans and their families, and there is a backlog for more. The project spawned three books, educational materials, the play "Voices of Valor" and a traveling photo exhibit, all of which are used by educators around the world. Its photos have been used by the military, historical institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum for American History, and by media organizations across the country. Along the journey, Rivas-Rodriguez, a former journalist turned journalism professor, has become an advocate for the inclusion of Latinos and their contributions in the nation's historical narrative.

In 2007, she became a formidable player in the controversy that emerged after director Ken Burns completed his epic "The War" series on World War II without a mention of Hispanics. Rivas-Rodriguez launched a grass-roots protest campaign that claims to have spurred thousands of letters from veterans and their families, many of whom pointed out that public money helped fund "The War," which aired on PBS.

Burns later hired Austin-based filmmaker Hector Galán to add interviews with Hispanic veterans.

The controversy, said Rivas-Rodriguez, was "one more example of how people don't think about Latinos. They think about Americans, and they don't necessarily think of Latinos as Americans."

Some critics have suggested thatHispanic demands for inclusion amount to demands that they be singled out from other Americans.

"I find it really ironic because basically that's what we want — to be included," Rivas-Rodriguez said. "The criticism 'Why can't you just be Americans?' really doesn't understand the historic discrimination that Latinos have faced in our country."

According to historians, documenting and recovering minority histories is an ongoing national struggle carrying important sociological consequences. Omitting minorities from the historical record can leave younger generations feeling unimportant and alienated, said Jorge Mariscal, a Vietnam veteran and a professor at the University of California at San Diego.

"What does that say for society that you're not recognized — you're not part of our team?" said Ignacio Garcia Gonzales of Austin, 76, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Like many Latinos of his day, Gonzales encountered racism where he least expected it — in the military.

An amateur boxer as a teen, he first stepped aboard a Navy ship in 1952 at the age of 18. "They didn't want me," Gonzales recalls. His superiors wanted Gonzales to be a steward or cook — work he said was traditionally assigned to Hispanics and African Americans.

"I told them I came here to better myself, to be a good Navy man and to serve my country," says Gonzales, who eventually was assigned to work on the ship's deck.

Gonzales would compile a 26-year Navy career, serving in the Korean War and seeing combat in Vietnam before retiring in 1978 as a master chief petty officer. He earned a business degree from the University of Virginia while in the Navy and a master's in industrial management from Northwestern University after he left the military. He worked for Abbott Laboratories for 15 years before retiring from there.

Gonzales said that once, while wearing his Navy uniform, he was denied service at a Richmond, Va., restaurant because of his ethnicity. He said he suffers the effects of Agent Orange, and though proud of his military service, he says: "I left it. I'm moving on."

Later wars included

A one-year, $328,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services is making the oral history project's expanded work possible, Rivas-Rodriguez said. "From the beginning, people were asking us when we would tackle Vietnam. We had our hands full with World War II."

Collecting World War II histories will continue. The project has a $50,000 annual operating budget, depending heavily on grants and donations. Friday's dinner at UT is a fund-raiser; Saturday's symposium launches the expanded mission, exploring the Korea and Vietnam periods.

"We're really at the beginning of how to figure out how to tackle this," Rivas-Rodriguez said.

Initial forays will include focus groups, deciding who will be interviewed and assessing existing research.

Many scholars have noted that service members of Mexican descent served in large numbers during Vietnam and experienced the highest combat death rates.

Mariscal, who will speak at the symposium, said the project's broadened scope is important for younger generations.

"When we were college-age, World War II was 25 years away or so. For students now, Vietnam is 40 years away."

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635