The Uniting Cultures Who We Are, How We Got Here: Collecting Stories oral history collection shares stories collected from residents of St. James, Minnesota between 2017-2024. During this time, the St. James community became more culturally and economically diverse. People wanted to share and hear each other's stories of identity and belonging. Uniting Cultures, an organization committed to nurturing cross-cultural connections, collected a first set of interviews that were summarized in a book distributed in the community. This book was very well received, and community members wanted more opportunities to hear and tell stories. Next, in partnership with Convivencia Hispana, Odell Wood Farm Community Fund, the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, Otto Bremer Trust, Mayo Clinic Health System, the Southwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership of UMN Extension, and UMN Morris’ Center for Small Towns, the organization worked to collect, transcribe, translate, code, and share additional stories. This collection includes the original book of summarized stories and more recent transcriptions as well. The collection is a companion to a traveling exhibit in St. James that addresses the six common themes found among the stories: movement, place, encounters, traditions, and changes. These transcripts have been redacted to protect the identities of the storytellers. Uniting Cultures members and their community partners, with input from the storytellers, made this choice to encourage community members to feel safe sharing their stories.
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ID100 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Female born in early 1940s. Completed 2nd grade. Is the third of 8 siblings. Lived in the US for 39 years at the time of the interview. Her daughter came first and lived in Texas, then sent her money to come by train through Mexico. Regularized her US status in 1986. Worked in the US for 25 years in Texas and Minnesota. Came to St. James in 1989.
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ID101 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Middle-aged woman from Mexico. Immigrated to St. James a little less than 20 years ago, because her husband already had a house and job there. Her children were born in and have grown up in St. James.
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ID102 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Female born in the early 1970s. Is the oldest of seven children and has been living in the U.S. for the past 27 years at the time of the interview. She came first before her siblings and kids. She lived in Texas with her cousin and his wife and sent money back to Honduras. She got her work permit after an incident with her dog and neighbor. She continues to work in the U.S.; 12 years in Texas and 15 years in St. James. Came to St. James in 2007.
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ID103 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Female born in the mid 30s. She was born in Laredo, Texas. Her family would go back and forth between Minnesota and Texas for jobs, until they decided to stay in St. James because her daughter lives there. She still lives in Saint James with daughters and grandchildren.
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ID104 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
A male born in the early 1990s in Mexico. He is the oldest of four children and has only been living in the U.S. for the last two years. He came to the United States with a TN visa. He lived with his cousin before coming to St. James and sends money to his family back in Mexico. Currently, he lives and works in St. James.
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ID105 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
3rd generation Mexican-American woman born in Minnesota but grew up mostly in Texas. Moved to St. James when she was in high school. She lives and works there with her family.
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ID106 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Salvadoran woman born in the early 1970s. The youngest of 14 children, she came to St. James in the late 1990s. She came to the U.S. with her daughter and the help of family already living in the U.S. She continues to live in St. James and run a business.
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ID107 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman from Mexico who fondly remembers her childhood in a small town in Mexico. Her family moved to a larger city in Mexico in her youth. After the death of her mother and a divorce, she came to the US and brought her children. She moved several times before coming to St. James in 2000.
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ID108 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Man born in the early 60s in El Salvador. Came to the U.S. to get away from the war and to have a better job to earn more money. When he first arrived in the U.S. he lived in California. He came to St. James and works in a meat processing job, which he describes as better than farmwork in California. He lives in St. James with his wife and two children.
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ID109 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in Mexico in 1954. One of 11 children and married at age 12 in Mexico, she came to St James in the 1970s after living briefly in California and Omaha. She came to St. James to reunite with her mother, who has since passed away. She raised her children in St. James, and describes her experience as a positive one.
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ID110 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Guatemalan woman who speaks K’iche as well as Spanish. She came to the U.S. in 2015 with her 9 year old child. She now has children born in the US and children who live in Guatemala. Her sister lived in St. James and she joined her sister there after briefly returning to Guatemala. She’s happy that she can send money to support her family members in Guatemala and works hard to provide for her transnational family.
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ID111 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Elderly Salvadoran man born in the late 1930s who had a challenging childhood. He was orphaned young and raised by siblings and an aunt. He started working from a young age in agriculture and coffee cultivation. He came in 1980 to the US.
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ID112 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Salvadoran man born in the early 60s and came to California in the 1990s. Got a college education and was a teacher and entrepreneur in El Salvador. Work in clothing design and printing in California and bought a house. Pushed by economic precarity around 2008 to move to St. James where he already had family members and a real estate investment. One of his children was in college in Mankato at the time of the interview.
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ID113 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Man born in the early 1970s in El Salvador. Came to the U.S. with the help of extended family in his mid-20s after working at a white collar job in El Salvador. In the U.S. he worked in agriculture and industrial processing. After marrying, they moved back to St. James to begin their family. At the time of the interview, continues to reside in St. James.
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ID115 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Retired woman from El Salvador who has lived in St. James for 26 years. She talks about growing up in poverty with a single mom and siblings. She came to the United States because of the Civil War and lived in Los Angeles for a few years before moving to Minnesota.
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ID116 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 1980s. Is the only child of her family. She is from Mexico and grew up in the country. She came to St. James with her husband and kids because she had family that was already living there.
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ID117 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the late 1970s in El Salvador. She was the oldest and only female of five children. She came to the U.S. by herself with the help of a family friend in order to support family back in El Salvador. Since she’s arrived in St. James, she’s worked in town and continues to do so at the time of the interview.
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ID118 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the mid 70s from Michoacán, Mexico. She immigrated to the U.S. when she was 18 with her husband at the time and others that they knew. They arrived and worked in Florida for many years. She and her kids later moved to St. James.
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ID119 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Man born in the mid 60s. He is from a big city in Mexico. His mother was born in Minnesota but lost her papers when returning back to Mexico. She wasn’t able to come back to the U.S. until she was in her 80s. He and his wife came to the U.S. because their friends invited them. He planned on only staying for 6 months and he’s now lived in St. James for 29 years.
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ID120 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the mid-1980s in Mexico. She is the second youngest of eight children. She came to the United States with her sisters and father at age 17, where her older brother had already established a life in the U.S. and one of her sisters and mom followed after them. Her family lived in California before moving to Minnesota. In 2007, she moved with her own family to St. James. She has worked in the U.S. for 20 years and continues to work in St. James to this day.
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ID121 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman from Honduras, born in 1992. Survived Hurricane Mitch and a difficult youth in an urban center. Came to the US during the Covid pandemic to reunite with a son and the father of her children who was already in Minnesota. She highlights her love for her children, her work ethic, and her faith as helping her survive a variety of challenges in life.
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ID122 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the mid 80’s from Mexico. She is the youngest of her three siblings. She, her husband, and her two children came to St. James because her friends and family were here. They now have one more daughter, who was born in the U.S. She mentioned how she has felt discriminated against at her job and talks to her children about what to do if one of them is ever deported from the U.S.
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ID123 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Female born in the late 80s. Is the third oldest of twelve children. She is from Guatemala and came to the U.S. around 2005 with a couple of her brothers. When they first arrived in the U.S. they were in Houston Texas and traveled to Saint James. She still lives in Saint James and is married, and they have children.
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ID124 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
A Mexican woman born in the 1970s who immigrated to St. James with her mom when she was 14. She finished high school in St. James but didn’t know pursuing further education could have been an option for her. She now is married with two children and very involved in the community of St. James, such as through the Catholic Church and the organization, Convivencia Hispana.
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ID125 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 2000s. Is the youngest of four children. She was born in the U.S. but grew up in Mexico until she was about 19. She came to St. James because she had family that was already living there. She has been in St. James for about 2 years and recently the rest of her family has joined her.