Maria’s Journey ed. by Ramón Arredondo, Trisha (Hull) Arredondo (review)

WINTER 2010 73 Repatriation, talk of a fence on the Mexico-United States border, low wage labor, ethnic discrimination, and low-income housing: Readers will wonder if Ramón and Trisha Arredondo’s Maria’s Journey is set in 2011 rather than the first half of the twentieth century. The reader experiences the joys and tribulations that Maria, her husband Miguel, her mother Rita Perez, and her ten children experienced when Maria immigrated from Guanajuato, Mexico, to Indiana Harbor, in northwest Indiana. Though Maria’s journey was unique, it reveals the trials and tribulations faced by all immigrants to the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in 1907, Maria experienced firsthand the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution, hiding from roving bands of soldiers with her mother and brother Frank. To improve her daughter’s life, Rita arranged Maria’s marriage to Miguel Arredondo, the son of a local wealthy woman. The marriage did not bring prosperity and security, however, and soon Miguel and Maria headed north to the United States to look for work. They soon found employment in Texas, but following rumors of better work further north they ended up in Indiana Harbor, where Miguel found a job with Inland Steel in East Chicago. By the end of 1927, Maria had given birth to her first two children and her mother and brother had joined her in Indiana Harbor. Over the years, Maria gave birth to ten children, three of whom served in the military in occupied Germany and Korea. Miguel was one of the early organizers of the United Steelworkers Local Union 1010, and his son Jesse became financial secretary and eventually president of the organization. The prosperity of the post-War War II years enabled the Arredondos to purchase their first house, a massive step up from their early years in the United States when they lived in single room apartments and could barely pay the weekly rent. Still, the Arredondos suffered their share Book Reviews Maria’s Journey Ramón Arredondo and Trisha (Hull) Arredondo. Ramón Arredondo and Trisha (Hull) Arredondo . Maria’s Journey. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 2010. 280 pp. ISBN: 9780871952868 (paper), $19.95. BOOK REVIEW 74 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY of hardships. When Frank lost his arm and Rita was deported back to Mexico, Maria and her family held together and drew strength from each other and their faith. Adhering to the credo “family first,” Maria believed that so long as the family cared for one another everything would turn out for the best. She was also buoyed by her belief that no matter how difficult life in America might be, it was better for her family than life in Mexico. Maria’s Journey grows out of a late 1970s oral history project called “Pass the Culture, Please.” Indiana University Northwest professor James Lane conducted oral interviews with Maria and some of her children. These interviews became the basis for public presentations about the culture of the region’s various ethnic groups. The authors use these interviews, as well as the recollections of Maria’s children, as sources for this history of the Arredondo family. The authors’ decision to tell the history of the Arredondo family topographically rather than chronologically could have resulted in a disjointed account. However, the book’s organization enables readers to grasp more fully the changing social conditions during the thirty years the family lived and grew in Indiana Harbor. A well written account of one immigrant family, Maria’s Journey also provides insight into the broader American immigrant experience . Indeed, many of the problems faced by immigrants of Maria’s generation still confront more recent newcomers to the United States. Thus, Maria’s Journey works both as history and as a glimpse into immigrant lives that remain as challenging and dynamic today as they were when Maria first came to the United States. Benjamin J. Drake Murray State University ...