My Latin American Summer Experience (2): Lucero Estrella

This is the second part of the Summer 2022 Latin American Experience, a series featuring students who traveled to Latin America supported by CLAIS. This time Lucero Estrella, Ph.D. Student in American Studies, shares her experience in Mexico. 

“I was surprised to find a lot of letters from the Legion Anti-China speaking against the Chinese community in northern Mexico and asking the Nuevo León governor to support their campaign against the Chinese”

This summer I was able to travel to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and Las Esperanzas, Coahuila with the assistance of the CLAIS Summer Travel Award. During my time in Monterrey, I was able to visit the Archivo del Estado de Nuevo León and the Asociación México Japonesa del Noreste (AMJN). At the state archives, I look at documents related to foreigners in Monterrey and the state of Nuevo León and passports issued from 1900 to 1950s. I found some documents on Japanese migrants that requested travel documents or residency in N.L., as well as documents for Chinese migrants in the region. I was surprised to find a lot of letters from the Legion Anti-China speaking against the Chinese community in northern Mexico and asking the Nuevo León governor to support their campaign against the Chinese.

After conducting archival research, I visited the AMJN where I met with the president and vice president of the Association. They connected me to Nikkei who lived locally and I was able to schedule in-person interviews with multiple Nikkei living in Monterrey. These Nikkei also connected me with the community in Piedras Negras that I visited later that month.

In Coahuila, I had the chance to meet with the local Nikkei community, local archivists, and historians, and to visit the Teatro Juarez. I visited the local Piedras Negras archives where I met with the local archivist, Rigoberto Losoya. Unfortunately, the area suffered many floods in the twentieth century that led to the loss of many documents and the collection in Piedras Negras is very small and limited. I also did a day trip to Las Esperanzas, Coahuila where I met with local historian and teacher Melecio Mendoza. Professor Melecio is an expert on local Coahuila history and he works at the Teatro Juarez. In 1899, the Mexican Coal and Coke Company planned the construction of the Teatro Juarez in Villa Las Esperanzas, Coahuila, as part of a recreational area for local miners. Construction began in 1903 and it was inaugurated in 1906. Today, this space is used for cultural events, gatherings, and the AMJN has used this spot as a venue for Nikkei reunions in Coahuila. I spent some days with the Nikkei community from the Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras border and got in contact

After completing my travel to Mexico this summer, I was able to schedule and conduct more phone interviews with more Nikkei collaborators. I was able to use the interviews I conducted during my trip and after returning from my trip to write a chapter of my dissertation that I will present to my dissertation committee this fall. The archival documents I collected and oral histories I conducted will help me continue my work of understanding how families and communities remember migrant stories, how they form and join community organizations, and how they preserve family and community histories.

By Lucero Estrella, American Studies ‘24 Ph.D., estrella.lucero@yale.edu