Esperanza Andon

Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Esperanza Andón

Esperanza Andón is from Piaxtla, Puebla, Mexico. She and her husband immigrated to New York in 1972, and found work in Brooklyn. They then began to bring their children from Mexico. Andón founded a marathon race in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe. She is also a cook, and prepares regional Mexican specialties at home and distributes them house to house in the Mexican sections of Brooklyn, and at the Mexican American community's sports events at a park in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn.

In the interview, Esperanza Andón discusses the early days of her life in Brooklyn, when there were few Mexican products in the bodegas, and she had to travel to Casa Moneo on 14th Street in Manhattan. She recalls that in 1978, Mexican products began to appear in a Dominican-owned bodega on Myrtle and Franklin Avenues, and then in Mexican neighborhoods all over the borough. Andón describes in detail the origin of Brooklyn's Guadalupe Day ceremonies, beginning at the Guadalupe church in Manhattan, then through a series of Brooklyn churches, before finally finding a home at All Saints Church in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. She describes the regional costumes, including the china poblana and inditos, worn in the Guadalupe procession. Andón also recounts her inspiration to develop a marathon race; her way of keeping a promise to the Virgin of Guadalupe, after having health and immigration status issues. Interview in Spanish conducted by Marcelo Herman.

Brooklyn Historical Society initiated the Hispanic Communities Documentation Project in 1988. Over fifty interviews were conducted to document the experiences of Brooklyn residents who arrived from Puerto Rico, Panama, Ecuador, and several other Central and South American nations in the latter half of the twentieth century. This collection includes recordings and transcripts of interviews conducted between 1988 and 1989. The oral histories often contain descriptions of immigration, living arrangements, neighborhood demographics, discrimination, employment, community development, and political leadership. Also included are photographs and printed ephemera.

Citation

Andon, Esperanza, Oral history interview conducted by Marcelo Herman, January 04, 1989, Hispanic Communities Documentation Project records and oral histories, 1989.004.20; Brooklyn Historical Society.