BASQUE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

INTERVIEW TAPE INDEX

NAME: Espe Alegria
DATE OF INTERVIEW: August 1, 1975
LOCATION: Boise, Idaho
INTERVIEWER: Joseba Chertudi
LANGUAGE: English
TAPE NUMBER: no number
INDEXED BY: Nere Lete
 

TAPE MINUTE         SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

0-2:00              Born in Ermua. Father was a weapons mechanic and mother was a teacher. The family had three children: two boys and Espe. She attended regular school until she was 12 years old, then she went to San Sebastian and then to Begoña, Bizkaia. She earned her teaching degree. She was 18 when she came to the US. Her brother came right after her. Their mother was already in the US, but their father had passed away.

 2:00-6:00        Mother sent the money for Espe’s passage to her.  She took a train to France and then sailed to New York. She was seasick for the entire voyage across the Atlantic, which lasted five days.  She came alone; the Travelers Aid Association helped her every time she had to make a change (New York and Chicago).  It took her 5 days by train to come to Boise. Her mother waited for her at the train station.

 6:00-16:00      Life in US: She arrived in Boise July 25^th, 1925. She started going to school in September. She worked for the Air Force teaching Spanish at Gowen Field (1941). She earned $3 an hour, a good wage. Espe was married. Her daughter went to school in San Rafael, California to study with the Dominican Sisters. When Espe first came she and her mother stayed at the Pioneer Tent Hotel for one year. In 1926 they left to go to Los Angeles. There were so many Basque people in Boise that it looked like any other Basque town.  Her mother never planned to go back to the Basque country. During the trip to New York, she saw people chewing gum for the first time, and thought it was funny.  Espe became a US citizen in 1939. She registered as a Democrat.  Espe didn’t have a hard time adjusting to the new life in the US. 

 16:00-21:00    Espe’s mother was visiting in Spain when the Civil War broke out. The American Embassy got her out fast, as she was an American citizen.  Espe reflects about situation in Spain, ETA etc…

 21:00-23:00    The most pleasant things in the United States were the freedom and her husband. She had a nice life, and always felt at home.  She enjoyed married life.

NAMES AND PLACES

NAMES:

Maximo Alzola: Basque fellow from Eibar that traveled with Espe to NY.
Franco: Spanish dictator.
Travelers’ Aid: Association that helped Espe making the changes during her trip.
Dominican Sisters: Espes’s daughter went to school there (California).
 

PLACES:

San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa / Begona, Bizkaia: Espe attended school there.
San Rafael, California: Espe’s daughter went to school.
Los Angeles, California: After a year in Boise they moved there.
Gernika, Bizkaia: Espe’s mother was visiting there when the Spanish Civil War began.
Elgeta, Bizkaia: Mother told stories about Basque men killed there.