Luis Leal: An Auto/Biography

Chapter Two: Chicago

Chapter Two Chicago Leal in Chicago, Illinois, early 1930s. Northwestern University MG: Let’s go back to your migration to Chicago. You left in 1927 to come to Northwestern University because some friends were already studying there. You went to study mathematics. Why was there this Linares connection with Northwestern? Why didn’t these students go to a closer American school, such as the University of Texas? LL: I don’t know exactly why there was this connection. These were young men also from the traditional families and who had gone to the Catholic school. I think that the connection may have had to do with the Englishman who operated the electrical plant. He had been in Chicago prior to coming to northern Mexico and he probably had arranged for these students to come into contact with Northwestern. What do you remember about making your decision to apply and go to Northwestern? I was in touch with these young men. I would talk to them about their experiences when they returned during summertime. They would talk about their classes, the football games, and the girls! They encouraged me to join them. I wrote to Northwestern and they sent me an application form. I was provisionally accepted until I learned sufficient English to become a regular student. What do you recall about your initial journey to Northwestern? I was nineteen and ready to go. My father accompanied me to Monterrey. From there I was on my own. I took the train to San Antonio and then transferred to the Missouri Pacific line to St. Louis. There I changed to the Chicago and Alton Railroad, which took me into Chicago. During the trip I had difficulty ordering a meal due to my very limited English. I would go into the club car, be seated, and then just point to an item—any item— on the menu. Somehow I got by! Leal in Chicago, 1944. Where did you first live? On campus or off campus? I moved in with my friends from Linares. They were renting rooms in a boarding house off campus managed by a Mexican family by the name of Morales who were from León, Guanajuato. They had come to Chicago a few years before to work. They had either bought this house or were renting it. It was on the north side of Chicago not far from Evanston, where Northwestern is located. How did you learn English? My friends helped me. I read or tried to read on my own. I sat in on classes, including one on English phonics. I went to the movies and concentrated on the subtitles until the ‘‘talkies’’ appeared, and then I listened to the dialogue. Little by little my English improved, until after a few years I began to take classes in math, science, English, and other undergraduate courses. After I was formally enrolled I even took a course on Shakespeare. But it took me seven years to master English, which is why I didn’t complete my B.A. until 1940. What was the most difficult thing about learning English? The pronunciation. I found that learning to read English was not as difficult as learning to speak it. Even after half a century I still have problems with pronunciation. Writing English was not that difficult. Did you have to work after you got to Northwestern? I had a part-time job. I worked with a fellow who was from Colombia. He ran a business translating from English to Spanish and vice-versa. He hired me to proofread the Spanish. He did a lot of work for the John Deere Company , which manufactured tractors and sold many to Latin America. My parents also would send me money to help pay for my room and board. The tuition at Northwestern was relatively inexpensive. Were Northwestern and Chicago a big change from Linares? It was a tremendous change. The idea I had of Chicago before arriving there did not coincide with what I found. I had visualized something entirely different , something more modern. I had seen the film Metropolis in the 1920s and thought Chicago was a futuristic city of the type presented in that film. But this is not what I found. There were slums and there was much poverty. Of course, this was during the Great Depression. If you went downtown you would see people...