Voces Founder Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez Leaves Behind a Living Record of Voices Once Forgotten

Just shy of the studio lights and film cameras, Kleenex boxes sat idly, waiting for veterans and interviewers alike to reach out and tear a tissue away. Conversations often centered on stories that Latinos or Latinas, who served in the military during WWII, were sharing for the first time. 

Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez often reached for a handkerchief as she interviewed these individuals, who were part of the generation that started MALDEF, the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization, and shaped LULAC, a civil rights organization empowering Latino communities. As a testament to their contributions, Rivas-Rodriguez founded the Voces Oral History Center in 1999 to record their stories, which she said remain essential to weaving the tapestry of Latino history. 

The associate professor of journalism stepped down from Voces in January and will leave UT in August of next year, a decision she said she has considered for years. For Rivas-Rodriguez, retirement will still involve journalism and oral history, but she said above all, she wants to have some time to rest after a life of working with a full plate.

“I know even if I didn’t retire, even if I wasn’t thinking about retiring — nobody’s going to live forever,” Rivas-Rodriguez said.

Since the beginning of her career as a reporter for Boston newspapers, Rivas-Rodriguez and a full plate have been no strangers to each other. Carrying on a full load into her role at The Dallas Morning News, she covered the Border as bureau chief and contributed to the Sunday edition of the Dallas publication. It was in 1992 that she wrote and published a magazine piece on Mexican-Americans of the WWII generation and their contributions to civil rights — a discovery of hidden stories that set her on a path to a journalism career working to bring Latino veteran history back to the frontlines.

“There was not a single book about the contributions of this generation of men and women,” Rivas-Rodriguez said. “Then, you know, as a journalist, it clicks like, ‘Holy cow, this is important.'" 

She faced a temporary blockage in her path with a failed grant proposal that stalled her plan to record an oral history of the WWII generation. But in 1998, UT invited Rivas-Rodriguez to teach a class of her choosing, on the condition that it produce a newspaper. She didn’t hesitate and proposed a course on a topic that she had longed to delve into.

“They offered me a job in the spring,” Rivas-Rodriguez said. “And it was exactly what I wanted.”

27 years after being offered the job, Rivas-Rodriguez looks back on her career that includes more than 960 recorded interviews, a thriving oral history center and a legacy rooted in teaching and building an ever-evolving record of lived experience. She said she cannot credit her work solely to herself, instead attributing what Voces has become to the undergraduates and interns who helped build it — some of whom now have children attending college.

“I feel like a grandmother; I’m immensely proud,” Rivas-Rodriguez said. “This is something important that we did together that is going to have a lasting legacy.” 

CJ Alvarez, associate professor in the Center for Mexican American Studies, took over the Voces earlier this year, an individual that Rivas-Rodriguez found after six years of searching. She said after watching organizations and institutions die out once their founder leaves, she knew her successor needed to check all the boxes. 

With Voces in the hands of Alvarez and her final tasks nearing completion, Rivas-Rodriguez described her departure not with regret, but as the closing of a chapter.

"It's not bittersweet. It’s just sweet,” Rivas-Rodriguez said. “I’ve done my job.”