Family History Project by

At one point in my grandpa's life before leaving his hometown he worked as a farmer, growing corn at a young age. He didn’t have any life insurance and the pay rate was low. Because of this he needed to find a way to get a job that provided more benefits. In an article, “ The Farmworker Movement in the Post-Bracero Era chapter 6 Lori A.Flores stated, “ Often forced onto the road and into an itinerant life, they suffered from a lack of a living wage and ineligibility or health insurance, welfare, voting right, and other sources that required an extended period of residency in one place”(pg.163). As a farm worker my grandpa didn’t have good benefits and at times, he didn’t have the respect at his job. There were many times my grandpa thought of taking his life because he didn't know what else he could do to provide for his family. He believed and was determined that he was going to find another job that provided more benefits and respected their employees. After having another child my grandpa went searching for a job to provide for them. Where he lived there weren't many jobs available, so he decided to go to Chicago for a year to see how it was and earn money to send back home. His dream place he wanted to live was in California but he needed money so his only way to do this was to move to Chicago for a year. The reason he chose to go to Chicago was that it was the only one that gave good benefits. The job was recommended to him by an old friend, in the year 1976, it was the year my grandpa went to Chicago for only a year. My grandpa had the opportunity to go to Chicago because he got Permission to be a Tourist. When he got permission to go to Chicago, he only had to pay 150 pesos to cross. When he left for Chicago, he had to leave his family behind. When my grandpa was in Chicago, he had the privilege to work in a safe place where the owner was Mexican and the employees were Puerto Ricans. Everybody on the job site had some sort of privilege to get a job in Chicago just like my grandpa. When my grandpa worked in Chicago, he was treated with respect, and that's one thing he liked because in Guadalajara they were treated badly. Along the way, his friends from the job site were able to provide my grandpa with papers to go to Puerto Rico but, he didn’t accept it because he had family in Guadalajara. Before my grandpa went to Chicago for a year, the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago was going on. In an article by the Washington Post, author Caitlin Gibson wrote, “What happened in Chicago in 1968, and why is everyone talking about it now?. During this time democrats gathered in Chicago to protest over the assassinations of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in April and Sen. Robert F. In the article author Caitlin Gibson mentions “ As the protesters marched toward the convention site, the police set out to stop them, wielding tear gas, rifles, and clubs. Onlookers and innocent bystanders — including reporters covering the scene and doctors attempting to offer medical help — were brutally beaten by the police, according to archival news accounts” (Gibson). Throughout this time, my grandpa was not trying to get near the violence so he wasn't going to go to Chicago initially. When my grandparents heard what was going on, he was scared because of how horrible the cops were violent with any protesters. Luckily he was in Chicago almost 10 years after this protest happened. His visa ended after a year and he headed back to Guadalajara to pick up his family and moved to California now that he had earned enough money.