You have been a powerful presence in the Latino community for many years. More on that in a moment, but let’s start with your background. Where did you grow up and when did you come to Rhode Island?
I was born in México, grew up in El Paso, Texas and I consider myself a “Chicana” – that word defines who I am today. I ended up in Rhode Island to attend Providence College. I was hoping to study Journalism, but P.C. did not have that major so I graduate with a degree in English. Later, while living in Washington, D.C., I went to George Washington University and received my Masters in Publications from there.
Among other callings, you are an oral historian. Tell us about that.
I call myself “an accidental oral historian” because I did not set out to be one. I knew there were people out there collecting oral histories, but did not fully understand what that meant.
While a student at PC, I did not own a car and rarely left campus. Occasionally I would be invited by someone with a car to Brown University, where there was a sizeable group of Mexican Americans. A few years after I graduated from PC, I was hired as director of the Hispanic Social Services Association (HSSA), and it was then when I realized I was not familiar with the local Spanish-speaking community. The board president of HSSA, Juanita Sánchez, who became my best friend and whom the school is named after, suggested I take a walk along Broad Street.
When I first came to Broad Street, I remember feeling a little out of place. The culture was very Dominican, and that was completely new to me. I am a Mexican-American, and if you know anything about our different backgrounds, you’ll understand that Mexican and Caribbean cultures can be really different—even though we all fall under the umbrella of “Hispanic” or in today’s world, “Latino/Latinx.”
I was curious. I wanted to learn more about the Latino communities here in Rhode Island. So I started digging. I went to libraries, read old newspaper clippings, and explored archives to figure out who the first Hispanic residents were. I’m from Texas, where Latinos have been around for over 400 years. So imagine my surprise when I learned that Latinos didn’t really start coming to Rhode Island until the 1960s. That wasn’t long ago at all.
That realization made me want to meet the people who were part of that first wave. So I started recording their stories—at first using audiocassettes (yes, tapes!), and eventually I moved to digital. I just wanted to capture their voices, their memories. Some of those interviews even got published in The Providence Journal.
Honestly, I didn’t set out to become an oral historian. It all kind of happened by accident. I got a small grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, which helped me learn what oral history actually is. I hadn’t studied it before. But I found others doing similar work, joined the Oral History Association, and that one small step turned into a career I’ve now been doing for over 30 years.
All I really wanted to do was understand the people around me—and that turned into a lifelong passion.
And you wrote a book, “Nuestras Raices: Latino Oral Histories of Rhode Island.” What will a reader find there?
Nuestras Raíces is the result of my work collecting oral histories. But most importantly, I never forgot that feeling that there was very little written about Latinos, their accomplishments and the history of this community. I wanted young people to have a resource that they could hold and pass along to a friend or family member. So a book was a natural way to leave something tangible behind.
Your websites also offer a wealth of Latino history. What will one find at http://nuestrasraicesri.net/?
Nuestras Raíces is where I’ve placed stories and photographs for the world to see. One way that I know it’s an important resource is when I get queries for permission to use my information in places like Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and even France! This tells me the work I have created is making a deep impact. [Editor’s note: The Latino History Community Archives, another of Martinez’s endeavors, has a wealth of information in its 19 collections.]
As time goes by and I see younger people changing their habits in how they receive information, I’ve tried to find ways to reach them where they are. For example, I use art to teach about Latino history – the people and their experiences that few realize are key to their successes. I’ve commissioned artists to paint public art (murals) along Broad Street inspired by the oral histories. One artist created Café Recuerdos, an art installation that depicts a coffee cart made of Café Bustelo, the most popular coffee among Latinos today. Another artist created portraits of those I refer to as “pioneers” – people who have become powerful in their own right, but who many don’t realize the barriers and struggles they went through to get there. Things like having an accent or looking different.
You were deeply involved in “La Broa,” a new play that premiered at Trinity Rep. Can you give us a summary?
The play La Broa’, produced by Trinity Rep in 2024, deeply reached and affected more Latinos in six weeks than I think I have seen in all my years of working in the community. The stories they saw on a live stage seemed to resonate in so many personal ways. Even the actors were moved, not just by the roles they portrayed, but by the response from Latinos far and wide.
You received the 2023 Pell Award for Artistic Excellence (an award dear to us at the Pell Center) and you recently were named one of The Providence Journal’s 24 to Watch in 2024.” Congratulations for both! In Antonia Noori Farzan’s Journal story, she wrote of you work bringing together Latino artists, filmmakers, musicians, writers and acting. Can you tell us about that work?
These responses are what I look for as this project moves forward, and why I continue to do the work. Today’s youth can better identify and learn without realizing it about these people, the Latino community, and its beginnings not that long ago.
And finally, what else can we expect from Marta V. Martinez in the years ahead?
I don’t plan on retiring very soon– I love what I do and look forward to getting up every morning to keep doing what I do! What I am looking forward to is engaging more with the next generation, the emerging oral historians or historians on their way to college or just graduating from a local university who are deeply interested in taking my work to the future. It’s been hard finding anyone who has a passion to do this work because it’s not easy, it involves a lot of patience, and there are still many hurdles to jump. I hope I can find one or two people to do this work so when I do step away, it will be in good hands.
Editor’s note: Martinez was recently inducted into the Rhode Island Press Association’s Hall of Fame.
