Los Campos

“Mexicans by the carload, by hundreds, by thousands, are being brought to the Chicago-Calumet district to work in the steel mills and other industrial plants.”  Gary Post-Tribune, 1923

 Isaac Villapondo in Inland Steel's 76-inch finishing mill, Sept.27, 1946, from Calumet Regional Archives (CRA)

Rafael Rodriguez and Heriberto Villareal at Inland's No. 2 open hearth, December 1953, CRA collection

The current issue of Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History contains an article by educator Douglas Dixon entitled, “Los Campos: Los Latinos y La Via de Indiana” that cites Ed Escobar and my “Forging a Community: The Latino Experience in Northwest Indiana, 1919-1975” as a source and makes use of photos from the Calumet Regional Archives.  Explaining the title, Dixon explained: “Los Campos may signify farm fields or family names. Los Latinos y La Via de Indiana may be a path from Indiana or the Indiana way.”  Mexican immigrants came to Indiana both as unskilled industrial workers, primarily in Lake County, and as agricultural laborers harvesting apples, strawberries, tomatoes, and other seasonal crops. During the past two decades, the Hoosier Latino population had increased by 82 percent as a result of migratory patterns and high birth rates. Dixon wrote:

  La familia de Los Campos brought a set of values that have meshed well with those all Hoosiers hold dear – a work ethic, respect for farm labor and produce, the importance of family, business savvy, volunteerism, and piety.  Latino/a values such as personalism (heightened sense of each person’s value), simpatico (avoiding confrontation), respeto (high regard for older or high-status persons), and familism may be less familiar to various groups in Indiana, but endearing nevertheless.  Other central values – collectivism (a greater sense of interdependence), power distance (unquestioning deference based on status), gendered aspects of familism, religious fatalism, or a relaxed view of time – may generate the potential for conflict.

Dixon focused on the Campos family, whose patriarch Felipe brought his family to Indiana in 1950 as agriculture laborers. Because they traveled from farm to farm in several states, son Noe Campos received little schooling; after he obtained work in a machine shop, the family settled permanently in Ligonier, a small town in northeast Indiana. Noe Jr. graduated from high school, obtained a white-collar job in a bank, and became an American citizen at age 24. Noe Sr. preached at Templo Betel, an evangelical congregation, and his son frequently plays the accordion and sings at religious services and ethnic functions.

Traces editor Ray Boomhower eulogized the late Wilma Gibbs Moore (above), a gifted storyteller who for over 30 years served as Indiana Historical Society program archivist for African American history until retiring in 2017.  She helped guide to publication my scholarly articles on Carleton Hatcher and Reverend L.K. Jackson. I enjoyed chatting with her at Indiana Association of Historians conferences.  A 1969 graduate of Indianapolis Crispus Attucks H.S., she recalled: “I went to school with the colored kids taught by the colored teachers.”  She once described her life’s work as “toiling in the Indiana history vineyard helping others find materials for their storybooks.”  R.I.P., good lady.  Thanks for your service on behalf of Clio, the muse of history.

 Arnautoff self-portrait in "City Life" mural in San Francisco

The current Journal of American History (JAH) contains a review by IU Northwest Labor Studies professor William Mello of Robert W. Cherny’s “Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art.”  Born in Russia, the son of an Orthodox priest, Arnautoff (1896-1979) became part of San Francisco’s leftist arts scene during the late 1920s. Moving to Mexico, he became an assistant to muralist Diego Rivera. Back in California, he produced controversial murals in fresco for the Pala Alto Medical Clinic (showing a doctor examining a bare-breasted patient) and San Francisco’s Coit Tower (including a self-portrait near a newspaper rack of leftist publications).  Mello wrote: “Inspired by his growing commitment to socialism, Arnautoff infused his portraits of everyday working-class life with political commentary.”  He taught art at Stanford, whose faculty resisted rightwing efforts during the Red Scare to have him terminated. In retirement Arnautoff returned to the Soviet Union, where he created tile mosaics for public buildings. 

The JAH also contains a review of Robert Justin Goldstein’s “Discrediting the Red Scare: The Cold War Trials of James Kutcher, ‘The Legless Veteran.’”  The son of Russian immigrants, Kutcher joined the Socialist Workers Party in 1938 at age 26 and, inducted into the U.S. Army, lost both legs to German mortar fire in Italy during the 1943 Battle of San Pietro. In 1949 the Veterans Administration loyalty board suspended him without pay from his position as a file clerk due to his political belief and past associations. It took seven years of legal fights, during which time he lost his disability benefits, before a U.S. Appeals Court restored his job.

 Terry Kegebein

Thanks to good series by Terry Kegebein and Mel Nelson, the Electrical Engineers took all 3 games from Fab 4.  Nearby I noticed Delia’s Uncle Phil Vera bowling right-handed again, after two years as a southpaw following a stroke.  He still hasn’t recovered full strength and uses a light 12-pound ball. Former student Jin Daubenhower, a retired History teacher, came by Hobart Lanes to say hello and will be coaching boys eighth-grade basketball at Kankakee Valley.  He told me, “You’re the reason I became a teacher.”  Nice.

Interviewed after George Goeway and Todd Fisher (above) scored a 72.69 percent in Lynwood, Goeway told bridge Newsletter editor Barbara Walczak: “Todd is fun to travel with – he is a Napoleonic scholar, writer, Civil War reenactor, foodie, and enjoys a good microbrew.”  Todd described their high performance: “We doubled close contracts to good effect, when our opponents got “over their skis.”  It led to one lady “walking the dog” on us and making 5 on 4 Clubs doubled, but this was the exception.”Joe Chin introduced the pair 13 years ago prior to a regional in Toronto.

Bridge buddy and former bank manager Barbara Mort visited the Archives to donate biographical materials and was accompanied by Asher Yates, a retired Hollywood film editor who moved to Northwest Indiana 20 years ago and won an EMMY in 1983 as a sound editor for the TV movie “The Executioner’s Song” starring Tommy Lee Jones as murderer Gary Gilmore.  The previous year, he was nominated for the TV series “Marco Polo.” Yates volunteers at the National Lakeshore’s Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education.