Order the Chile Relleno, Remember the Braceros

• In Event: The Spicy Life: Environmental and Cultural Histories of the New Mexico Chile Pepper

Abstract

In the small town of La Mesa, New Mexico, just north of the Texas border, is Chope’s Town Bar and Café. This is a place where locals go to celebrate birthdays, graduations, and weddings. Beyond being a family friendly establishment, Chope’s tells the story that gets largely ignored, that of the Bracero Program. The bilateral guest worker program brought Mexican men to work American fields for decades in the middle of the 20th century. One of the key crops these workers harvested was chile.

In this presentation, I will talk about the journey of getting Chope’s Town Bar and Café listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its important contributions to history, and why minoritized representations matters in historic preservation.

Author

• Norma Chairez-Hartell, New Mexico State University