White Gold Laborers
The Story of Greeley's Spanish Colony
by
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Mexican Americans became a minority in the United States not by immigrating but by being conquered during the Mexican War. At the war's termination, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo guaranteed the rights of these new American citizens, but the treaty was not enforced or maintained. (Moore, Joan W. 1976 Mexican Americans. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.)
By 1853, the United States acquired the present states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Colorado and California. Mexican people living in these areas became Mexican Americans but did not enjoy the full rights and privileges of American citizens.
In 1919, the Great Western Sugar Company, producer of a quarter of the nation's sugar, began recruiting the descendents of the original Mexican-Americans as beet field laborers in Weld County, Colorado. The Hispanics left their homes in New Mexico, Southern Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and Mexico for the promise of work and homes. They encountered harsh realities as stoop laborers, and were often treated as outcasts, not equals. Despite hardships they stayed, because their survival depended on it. "We worked hard; we had to, or we starved," relates Moses Espinosa.
The Hispanic beet workers learned to be content with giving the best they had to offer. "When I was ten, I used to cry every time we had to work in the field. But once there we did our best to finish the day," recalls Kate Espinosa Lopez Cassel. Their hard work in agriculture helped Greeley's economy grow, although, as Tito Garcia, Jr. remembers, "We were poor, but we didn't know that. We were happy."
Contrary to the 1920 stereotype of Hispanics, they were not dumb. They improved their lives by taking advantage of the education available to them. According to Tito Garcia, Jr., when a child didn't want to go to school, the parents would say, "When the Lord left the world, he said, 'May the smart ones live off the dumb ones.' In other words, go to school and become one of the smart ones."
"It was not cultural differences but a language barrier which separated us from the rest of the Greeley community," said Tito Garcia, Jr. "The [Anglos] thought we were stupid, because our English was bad." The Hispanics learned and improved their English, becoming bilingual.
The Colonists maintained attractive, clean homes and yards, took pride in their belongings and respected their neighbors' property and belongings. The rules and regulations they adopted protected the health and safety of the Colony residents.
Criselda "Kate" Espinosa Cassel said, "My stepmother and us girls untied the mattresses and took out the stuffing or wool. We washed the coverings and dried them on the clotheslines. Then we put the stuffing back in and tied up the mattresses and used them that night. My stepmother told us, 'If your oven is clean, that means you are a clean person.' This taught the children to keep the oven and house clean. Now, whenever I see dust or a spot, I stop right away and clean it. This was what we were taught to do."
Every family in the Colony, or a representative of that family, participated in the clean-up days. Families who did not participate were charged $5.00. This money was used for maintenance costs. After the families completed their yard work, they voluntarily helped others. Moses Espinosa compared the Colony to an "Indian village". It was a community where everyone cared for it and each other.
In spring and fall, the Colony scheduled clean-up days, and everyone participated as directed in the Constitution.
Residents were required to clean up the Colony and repair the irrigation system, churches, outhouses, Salon, etc. The community shared both work and laughter in conducting these civic projects.
Being stoop laborers in the field was not the workers' ultimate dream, and through sacrifice and determination, many overcame racial discrimination, inequities in wages, deplorable housing conditions, and personal disappointments to excel in a variety of professions. It has truly been our privilege to preserve the Spanish Colony residents' legacy, their memories, and their stories compiled from recorded audio and video interviews and printed resources….
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About the Book
White Gold Laborers is a social and cultural history of the men, women, and children who, as "sugar beet tenders" were offered opportunity for "permanent residency" in northern Colorado, in company-sponsored colonies. Thousands living today in different parts of our country can vividly and intimately relate to the history presented here. While the events described occurred in northeastern Colorado, the individual and collective memories are reminiscent of the Hispanic experiences in America from the 1920's through the 1950's.
"White Gold Laborers demonstrates that it is not the color of one’s skin, but rather one’s values that determine the course of a life... This book is especially important now as communities across the United States continue struggling with the integration of different cultures, languages, and peoples. What this book illustrates is that it is possible to live with dignity despite hardship and to maintain heritage while also contributing to the larger community." - Allen M. Huang, Ed. D. Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs University of Northern Colorado
About the Author
Jody and Gabriel Lopez are natives of Cheyenne, WY, but have resided in Greeley, CO since 1996. In 2000, they decided to conduct genealogical research. Several ancestors were residents and leaders of Greeley’s Spanish Colony, a 1924 housing project or “colonia” conceived by the Great Western Sugar Company for its “elite” Spanish-speaking workers.
Peggy A. Ford, Archives and Research Coordinator for the City of Greeley Museums, realized the value of systematically documenting information from first and second-generation residents of the Colony. In two years, Jody, Gabriel, and Peggy conducted 40 oral and video interviews with former and current Colony residents. Soon, the idea for organizing the oral recollections into a book gained momentum. Gabriel and Jody visited individuals, libraries and archives in northern Colorado to locate documents, images, and secondary resources.
This research enabled them to construct a 4’ x 8’ scale model of Greeley’s Spanish Colony, a model of a typical two-room adobe home, and a series of interpretive posters. These are exhibited in the Hispanic Heritage House at Centennial Village Museum. As museum volunteers, Jody and Gabriel share their research and knowledge about this region’s Hispanic heritage in programs for museums, schools, colleges, and special community events.
As “grass roots” historians, Jody and Gabriel logged thousands of hours to seek, document, and publish the stories of the struggles and accomplishments of Hispanic farm workers who lived in one Northern Colorado “colonia.” Their original intent to prepare a family genealogy quite unexpectedly illuminated the significant and vibrant stories of not only individuals, but ultimately, an entire community. White Gold Laborers preserves an important aspect of Northern Colorado’s history and culture for future generations.
Jody manages the Greeley Museums stores. Jody and Gabriel are writing a book about the Greeley Grays, semi-pro baseball team that originated in Greeley’s Spanish Colony.