Mary Nunez La Yarda Interview

Mary Nunez La Yarda Interview

La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.)

Mexican Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence

Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence

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

Mary Nunez was 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. Mary grew up in Lecompton and then moved to Lawrence with her parents when she was a teenager. Mary's family lived in housing provided by the railroad in both Lecompton and Lawrence, and describes the living conditions in those communities. She describes her family's migration from Mexico to Kansa, and her parents' strategies, such as gardening and handsewing clothing, for providing for a large family. Mary shares her memories of her school and healthcare experiences in childhood. She discusses family foodways and childhood pasttimes. She describes her experiences of cultural assimilation, especially regarding speaking Spanish and holiday traditions. Mary also describes her experiences of discrimination and segregation as part of the Mexican-American community in Lawrence, and shares her views on immigration.

Nunez, Mary

La Yarda Oral History Project

Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.)

2006

Krische, Helen

Raymond, Emily

Published with the permission of Dionne Chavez, on behalf of Mary Nunez. 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/18-mnunez-2006.

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

18-MNunez-2006.mp4 (video)

18-MNunez-2006.mp3 (audio)

18-MNunez-2006.pdf (transcription)

Lawrence (Kan.)

1920s - 1970s

MP4

00:38:20 (video)

3323 kbps

Krische, Helen

Raymond, Emily

Nunez, Mary