John Chavez and Helen (Chavez) Martinez La Yarda Interview

John Chavez and Helen (Chavez) Martinez La Yarda Interview

La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.)

Mexican Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence

Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence

Mexican Americans -- Social conditions -- Kansas -- Lawrence

John Chavez and Helen (Chavez) Martinez were interviewed by Helen Krische in 2006 as part of an oral history project to document the La Yarda and Mexican-American communities in Lawrence, Kansas. La Yarda was a neighborhood of worker housing provided by the Santa Fe Railroad for Mexican-American railroad workers; located near the Kansas (Kaw) River, the neighborhood was largely destroyed by a major flood in 1951. The interview is split into two parts. John and Helen grew up in East Lawrence; they discuss their family's migration from Mexico to Lawrence, their father's work for the railroads and his extensive gardens, and their mother's strategies for managing a large family. They share memories of holiday traditions, childhood pasttimes, and social activities. John and Helen also describe their experiences of discrimination and segregation as part of the Mexican-American community in Lawrence.

Chavez, John

Martinez, Helen (Chavez)

La Yarda Oral History Project

Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.)

2006

Krische, Helen

Raymond, Emily

Published with the permission of John M. Chavez and Helen Martinez. This work is the intellectual property of the Watkins Museum of History, Lawrence, Kansas. The public may freely copy, modify, and share this Item for noncommercial purposes if they include the original source information. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

To access the video and audio recordings of this interview, go to https://archive.org/details/17-jchavez-hmartinez-2006-e.

The Watkins Museum of History also holds items related to this collection.

Additional research on the La Yarda community is held at the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas.

MP4 (video recording)

MP3 (audio recording)

PDF (transcription)

Oral History

17-JChavezHMartinez-2006E.mp4 (video)

17a-JChavezHMartinez-2006E.mp3 (audio)/17a-JChavezHMartinez-2006E.pdf (transcription)

17b-JChavezHMartinez-2006.mp3 (audio)/17b-JChavezHMartinez-2006.pdf (transcription)

Lawrence (Kan.)

1920s - 1970s

Krische, Helen

Raymond, Emily

Chavez, John

Martinez, Helen (Chavez)

MP4

00:48:08 (video)

8220 kbps