In this interview, Dora Quesada discusses her family's history in Arizona and work in cattle ranching, mining, and freighting; her education; learning English and her family's use of Spanish and English; religion; her career as a military nurse, civilian nurse, and public school teacher; racism in the medical and educational fields; her political activity and work to oppose the Gosnell land swap; and her interest in and work to preserve Arizona's Mexican-American history.
This three-part program traces Chicano heritage and influence in Arizona's history between the 1600s and the 1950s. It begins with a consideration of Mexican immigrants' role in pioneering Arizona's first non-Indigenous settlements, discusses these settlers' conflicts with Indigenous peoples and Anglo settlers, recounts Mexican-American contributions to Arizona's economic growth, chronicles rising racism towards, discrimination against, and segregation of Mexican-Americans, and finally studies Mexican-American work to secure equal rights.
Wickenburg, Arizona.
Tempe, Arizona.
Dora Quesada is in the second row, third from the left. Wickenburg, Arizona.
Wickenburg, Arizona.
José and Francisca (Ocampo) Quesada are seated; standing (left to right) are Alice Quesada, Joséfina (Quesada) Alvarez, Dora Quesada, and Eugene Quesada. Tempe, Arizona.