Teresa Hernandez Schwartz La Yarda Interview

Teresa Hernandez Schwartz La Yarda Interview

La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.)

Mexican Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence

Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence

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

Teresa Hernandez Schwartz lived with her parents in Lawrence's La Yarda neighborhood. Teresa was interviewed by Nora Murphy on October 6, October 13, and November 14, 2019, 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. Teresa describes her family's migration from Mexico to Kansas, their experiences living in railroad housing communities in Topeka and Lawrence, and the 1951 flood that forced the La Yarda community to disperse. Teresa also describes her family's relationships with other Mexican-American families in Lawrence, their experiences attending local schools and St. John's Church, their working life and family foodways, the effects of World War II and the German prisoner of war camp in Lawrence, and experiences of discrimination and segregation faced by the Mexican-American community in Lawrence. Teresa's daughter, Anita Schwartz, is also present for portions of the interview.

Schwartz, Teresa Hernandez

Schwartz, Anita

La Yarda Oral History Project

Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.)

October and November 2019

Murphy, Nora

Raymond, Emily

Published with the permission of Teresa Hernandez Schwartz. 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 audio recording of these interviews, go to https://archive.org/details/1-tschwartz-20191006.

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.

MP3 (audio recording)

PDF (transcription)

eng

Oral History

2019-10-06 interview: 1-TSchwartz-20191006.mp3 (audio)/1-TSchwartz-20191006.pdf (transcription)

2019-10-13 interview: 2a-TSchwartz-20191013.mp3 and 2b-TSchwartz-20191013.mp3 (audio)/2a-TSchwartz-20191013.pdf and 2b-TSchwartz-20191013.pdf (transcription)

2019-11-14 interview: 3-TSchwartz-20191114.mp3 (audio)/3-TSchwartz-20191114.pdf (transcription)

Lawrence (Kan.)

1920s - 1970s

MP3

01:12:42 (2019-10-06)

00:47:30 (2019-10-13, pt. 1)

00:7:31 (2019-10-13, pt 2)

01:05:32 (2019-11-14)

192 kbps

Murphy, Nora

Raymond, Emily

Schwartz, Teresa Hernandez

Schwartz, Anita