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José Cruz grew up in Villa Juana, a district of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. In the late 1950s, his mother, Ana Martha Estela Santana Cruz, left their home when he was 6 to find work in the United States. She left without José but eventually sent for him once she was able to.
Here, Cruz tells his daughter, Grace, about the deep impact his mother had on his life and about his eventual move to the United States.
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Piece Description
José Cruz grew up in Villa Juana, a district of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. In the late 1950s, his mother, Ana Martha Estela Santana Cruz, left their home when he was 6 to find work in the United States. She left without José but eventually sent for him once she was able to.
Here, Cruz tells his daughter, Grace, about the deep impact his mother had on his life and about his eventual move to the United States.
Broadcast History
NPR's Morning Edition 9.25.09
Transcript
JC: My mother told me that I was the cutest thing in Villa Juana. She called me Chi-Chi. She said, "Chi-Chi, Tu eres lo mas lindo de Villa Juana," and she would give me a big kiss, and I would go to school with this big stamp of red lipstick on my forehead. So, she built a self-confidence in me that no one could ever, like, take away. I was six years old when she left for New York City. And I remember that my uncle said, "You're going to cry when your mom leaves," and I said, "I'm not going to cry." But I think I've been crying ever since
My mother wrote often about what she was experiencing here in New York City and, as a child, I used to look at those postcards my mother would send, I always imagined that I would live in those postcards. So, when I heard that I was coming to New York, I was in seventh grade and I thought I was going to be living in the Empire State Building. But we l...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:StoryCorps is collecting stories from people around the country ...
... and the project is launching a new initiative to hear from LATINOS.
It's called StoryCorps Historias [ee-STORE-ee-uhs] -- which in Spanish means both "story" and "history."
Today, we hear from Jose Cruz and his daughter, Grace.
Jose grew up in the Dominican Republic.
In the late 1950s, his mother left their home to find work in the U-S.
He tells Grace his mom's departure was hard to take ...
... because she'd been so much a part of his life in their neighborhood of Villa Juana [VEE-uh HUAN-uh].
OUTRO:José Cruz with his daughter Grace in New York City.
Their interview will be archived at the Library of Congress along with ALL StoryCorps recordings.
The podcast is at NPR-Dot-Org
[FUNDER CPB + The Marc Haas Foundation]
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oyeme Mama | Johnny Pacheco | Mi Musica Es Para Ti. | Varese Sarabande | 2002 | 00:20 |
Additional Credits
NPR, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Marc Haas Foundation
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