A new project at Washington State University Tri-Cities is documenting the history of Latinas in central Washington. It will be a lasting archive of stories of immigrant life and resilience.
The project, called HERitage, aims to compile the experiences of Latinas in Benton County, beyond traditional accounts of agricultural labor, said researcher Sabrina González, an assistant professor of history at WSU Tri-Cities.
“I believe part of what this project can do is to tell the story of migrants from the perspectives of their daily struggles and what they had to overcome to be who they are today,” said González.
History students are collecting these stories. Marcos Barreiro, a second-generation Mexican American and fourth year history student, is one of them.
“My grandparents were both born in Mexico. My parents were born here.” Barreiro said. “I have family who are still there and friends that were born there that moved here.”
He said his grandfather is very proud of being Mexican and wanted to teach his family to be proud of their heritage too.
For the project, Barreiro interviewed one of his aunts, who was born in Mexico, then she moved to Texas and later came to Washington state. He asked her what it was like growing up in America and about her experience of being Latina in Benton County.
He said learning more details about his aunt’s life was enlightening, because it allowed him to delve into his family's history beyond everyday life and learn things he had never heard about her life story before.
"We care about this embodied knowledge. Our students carry in their own bodies the histories of trauma, the history of struggle, but also the histories of resilience and resistance."Sabrina González
The students working with González are collecting stories from their family members and other community members. It is a way to engage not only in learning about the long history of women's challenges in the region, but also about historical methods — techniques that historians use to explain historical events — from concrete experiences.
"We care about this embodied knowledge. Our students carry in their own bodies the histories of trauma, the history of struggle, but also the histories of resilience and resistance," said González.
Barreiro said documenting these histories will help many in the community.
“If they can look at these archives, other young women or Latinas, they can see something that they can connect to," said Barreiro.
The goal, González said, is to collect at least ten new interviews that will be added to a website dedicated to the project, which is funded by the Benton County Historical Preservation Grant.
HERitage expands on other efforts to recover and raise awareness of the history of Hispanic and Latino communities in the region, said assistant professor of history Robert Franklin.
Franklin and Robert Bauman, researcher and history professor at WSU Tri-Cities, have worked in the past on the presence and contributions of Latino/a communities in Central Washington.
“I think a lot of this work fulfills that commitment that WSU has made to serve the community, and it's enriching in so many ways for the students to help us be making those connections, and doing so in a multi-generational way,” said Franklin. “We know, as historians, how powerful that is, to be able to go out and gather these stories and preserve them.”
González said the archives will also make a significant contribution to women's history, Chicana history and gender studies.
