KPBS On Air
The Other Side of the Fence
January, 1983
FOR MANY AMERICANS, the words "Mexican immigration" conjure up images of hordes of illegal aliens squeezing under barbed-wire fences on their way to farms and restaurants on this side of the border. The real story of Mexican immigration is more complex, though, stretching back to the turn of the century, when the human ebb and flow across the border wasn't impeded by border patrolmen and barbed wire.
Dr. Robert Alvarez, an Athropologist from San Diego who now teaches at Sacramento State University, has studied this era of Mexican immigration. Alvarez's research is unusual in that it tells the story of individuals, not historical epochs. In doing so, his work adds a human perspective to our present day notions about Mexican immigration. Alvarez's research is unusual in still another respect. The people he studied are members of his own extended family. The conclusions Alvarez draws about the history of Mexican immigrants are ultimately conclusions about his family, and himself.
Last year, Alvarez decided to retrace his relatives' footsteps, following the 800-mile- long trail they walked on their way north. Alvarez took along his son, plenty of water, and a KPBS-TV film crew. His experience is documented in The Trail North, a half-hour documentary produced and written by TV 15's Paul Espinosa and narrated by Martin Sheen. The Trail North is the story of a man discovering his roots, and the people who left their homes and families for a new life in a faraway land. It's also about the ties between the two Californias - Alta California, where Robert Alvarez was born; and Baja California, the arid land his ancestors left to follow the trail north.
The Trail North is directed by Thomas Karlo, with music by Los Alacranes Mojados and major funding provided by the California Council for the Humanities and the California Public Broadcasting Commission.