Eastside Project

In 2008 Dr. Irene Pocarello, President of the Eastside College, envisioned an umbrellic project that celebrated the history, culture, and people of Magnolia Park. Eastside College is located in Magnolia Park. The project included an oral history series, a video, and a history book. I co-authored the book published by Pearson. Entitled The Spirit of Magnolia Park: Ethnic Pride in a Mexican Barrio, 1909-2009, I’ve used the book in my Mexican-American history, Mexican American studies, and sometimes for the second part of the the US survey.

The book is nine years old and so I started to both rewrite and perform more research to continue the history beyond 2009. More and more of my students had demonstrated an interest in local history and  so I began lecturing more on the history of Houston and assigning monographs on race in Houston.

Then in the Fall of 2017 I began having student write brief essays on why they decided to enroll in college. That led to essays on their contemporary neighborhoods. The Dr. Pocarello died in early 2018 and I began talking to my students about her any her contributions to the college and the neighborhood. And that just evolved into the idea of continuing to research the people, places, and culture of Magnolia Park, but through the lens of Eastside College's students.

I collected many personal accounts on why they decided to enroll in college, first semester trials and tribulations, and advice they would give to incoming students on how to succeed. I then started to assign readings on local, even micro, history. Lectures followed and then I assigned small research assignments on local events (Kennedy's visit in 1963, UN's Decade of Women, HISD labeling Mexican-Americans white for busing purposes). And so in the Fall of 2018 I started posting the work of students on a website I created. The website is password protected. If you are interested in reading about our students' experiences and their research on Magnolia Park, contact me and I will give you the password.

The URL is: https://jamesrossnazzal.wixsite.com/eastside