A friend of mine likes to tell stories about his great-grandfather, and how he and his brother were separated by circumstance as young men but vowed to never cut their hair until they saw each other again. Many years passed. When they finally met up again, sure enough, they had hair down to their waists. They posed for a photo that day, one of those old black and white tin types, wearing cowboy hats, boots, vests, and Duane Allman hair. My friend’s grandfather left Mexico during the Pancho Villa years and made his way by wagon to Fort Worth to settle down, start a business, and raise a family. His many offspring still live and work here.
The city of Fort Worth Human Relations Commission is working with Texas Christian University’s Civil Rights in Black and Brown Oral History Project to preserve these kind of stories.
They’re hosting two family-friendly events to let residents tell and preserve their stories of leadership that led to the formation of the Latino community in Fort Worth.
“¡Viva Mi Historia! The Story of Fort Worth Latino Families Interviews will preserve stories of family, migration, identity, culture, labor, religion and activism,” a city press release said. “TCU graduate students, under the direction of Dr. Max Krochmal, will conduct interviews with Latino Fort Worth community members to record their oral history. Their work will chronicle significant development, achievements and milestones in the Latino community and their influence and impact on the city. Information gathered at these events will be used to help identify documents that will help create a Latino American Archives at the Fort Worth Library.”
The events are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 at Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods, 818 Missouri Ave., and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 at North Side High School, 2211 McKinley Ave.
For more info look here.
