by Ernesto Galarza

Ernesto Galarza was born in the small town of Jalcocotan, Mexico, in 1905. While he was still a small boy, challenges to the thirty-year reign of Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz resulted in widespread revolt. Fearing separation from Ernesto's young uncles through forced military or mining service, the family fled northward. The family-uncles Jose and Gustavo, mother Henriqueta and son Ernesto-rode the newly opened Southern Pacific Mexican Railroad to Mazatlan, Mexico; the border community Nogales; Tucson, Arizona; and Sacramento, California. More than forty years later, Galarza was persuaded to record his memories of his acculturation experiences, ending with his enrollment in a Sacramento high school.

Events in History at the Time the Autobiography Takes Place

Politics. Porfirio Diaz had become president of Mexico in 1876. Except for four years (1880- 1884) during which he gave the reins of government to his friend Manuel Gonzales, Diaz had ruled...