Archives West Finding Aid
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Oral history interview with Maria Garcia, 2018 June 10
Overview of the Collection
- Interviewee
- Garcia, Maria, 1977-
- Title
- Oral history interview with Maria Garcia
- Dates
- 2018 June 102018-06-102018-06-10
- Quantity
- 30.4 megabytes, (1 online resource (1 audio file (1 hr., 6 min., 29 sec.))) : MPEG-4
- Collection Number
- SR 12278
- Summary
- Oral history interview with Maria Garcia conducted by Maleya Luis on June 10, 2018, for The Immigrant Story. Garcia immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the 1990s and became an American citizen in 2010. She opened Revolución Coffee House in Portland, Oregon.
- Repository
-
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Maria Garcia was born in Mexico in 1977 and grew up in Mexico City. When she was 18 years old, she, her partner, and her 2-year-old daughter immigrated to the United States. They first lived in Palm Springs, California, and came to Portland, Oregon, in 2008. Garcia opened Revolucion Coffee House in downtown Portland, and she received American citizenship in 2010.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
This oral history interview with Maria Garcia was conducted by Maleya Luis on June 10, 2018. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. In this interview, Garcia discusses her life in Mexico, the Mexico peso crisis of 1994, and immigrating to Palm Springs, California. She talks about her experience as a teenage parent immigrant in the United States and the ways the language barrier and being undocumented affected her. She talks about learning English as a second language; experiencing domestic violence and divorcing the father of her child; and getting American citizenship in 2010. She discusses her cultural and ethnic identity. She then talks about moving to Portland, Oregon, and opening the Revolución Coffee House. She also discusses learning to cook with her grandmother as a child. Garcia talks about her activism for Latino immigrants, her campaign for Multnomah County commissioner in 2018, and systemic racism. She speaks at length about the reasons people choose to come to the United States and presents some solutions to the treatment of undocumented immigrants at the time of the interview in 2018. She closes the interview by discussing the importance of cultural diversity and urging immigrants not to lose their cultural roots.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Preferred Citation
Oral history interview with Maria Garcia, by Maleya Luis, SR 12278, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Restrictions on Use
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Acquisition Information
Gift of The Immigrant Story, July 2020 (Lib. Acc. RL2020-018).
Bibliography
An article about Maria Garcia, "We Are an Asset to Our Society" by Maleya Luis, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at https://theimmigrantstory.org/asset/.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Description | Dates |
---|---|
Oral history interview with Maria Garcia | 2018 June 10 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Businesspeople--Oregon--Portland
- Coffee shops--Oregon--Portland
- Immigrant business enterprises--Oregon--Portland
- Immigrants--United States
- Mexican Americans--Oregon
- Political activists--Oregon--Portland
- Political campaigns--Oregon--Portland
- Undocumented immigrants--United States
Personal Names
- Garcia, Maria, 1977-
Corporate Names
- Revolución Coffee House (Portland, Or.)
Geographical Names
- United States--Immigration and emigration
Form or Genre Terms
- interviews
Other Creators
-
Personal Names
- Luis, Maleya (interviewer)