♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male announcer: Come, listen to the story that this corrido has to tell.

[singing in Spanish] So many old Mexican ballads being this way.

Passed on from generation to generation, they sing of unsung heroes and events.

This corrido tells of Pedro J. González, a man whose life story symbolizes the history of people of Mexican descent in the United States.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] Today Pedro is 88 years old.

He lives in San Isidro, California, less than a mile from the Mexican border.

Like many Mexicans of his generation, Pedro recalls fighting on the battlefields of the Mexican Revolution in 1910.

Later in the 1920s in Los Angeles, Pedro became the most famous Spanish-speaking radio and recording star of his generation.

In 1934, at the height of his popularity, Pedro was sentenced to 50 years in San Quentin prison after one of the most controversial court cases in Los Angeles history.

[speaking in Spanish] For the past 66 years, Pedro and his wife, Maria, have faced a life together, covering five generations and 84 descendants.

They first met during the Mexican Revolution, when enemy troops were about to execute Pedro.

To save his life, Maria and several schoolchildren ran out and stood between Pedro and the fighting squad.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: From 1910 to 1917, Pedro's life was engulfed by the Mexican Revolution.

Reacting to the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, almost 2 million Mexicans would lose their lives in the first major revolution of the 20th century.

[singing in Spanish] Shortly after the fighting began, Pedro came face to face with the famous revolutionary general Pancho Villa.

Working as a telegraph operator, Pedro was only a teenager at the time.

Villa's men arrested him, suspecting that he had informed on their troop movements to the enemy.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: With the overthrow of Porfirio Díaz, Francisco Madero rode triumphantly into Mexico City in 1911, uniting the followers of Emiliano Zapata from the south and Pancho Villa from the north.

♪♪♪ announcer: Emiliano Zapata championed the battle cry of, "Tierra y libertad," "Land and liberty."

Pedro remembers how President Madero responded to this demand in his victory speech.

announcer: The idea of redistributing land was too great a threat to the institutions of the old society.

Thirteen months after taking office, President Madero was assassinated.

His death in 1913 touched up a bloody civil war.

For the next four years, Pedro served as Villa's telegraph operator, accompanying him on an impressive string of victories in northern Mexico, including the Battle of Torreón.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] announcer: Sixty years later in 1974, Pedro and his commander on the Torreón battlefield, General Raúl Madero were invited as representatives of revolutionary veterans to celebrate Mexican Independence Day in California.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: After the Mexican Revolution ended in 1917, the followers of Pancho Villa fell out of favor with the government.

Pedro joined thousands of Mexicans who migrated north to the United States seeking work, political exile, or simply relief from the ravages of war in Mexico.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] announcer: In the 1920s, the economy of the United States was booming.

Los Angeles was one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

The immigration of nearly a million Mexicans played a key role in the development of the Southwest.

Pedro found work as a longshoreman where he also gained a reputation as a singer.

announcer: In 1924 at a friend's urging, Pedro answered the newspaper ad from the Mauricio Calderón music house in Los Angeles, which was looking for Spanish-speaking singers.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] announcer: Pedro's pioneering experiences in the recording industry led him into the first form of electronic mass media: radio.

During this period, American companies launched a major effort to reach the Spanish-speaking market by advertising their products in Spanish.

announcer: In the Southwest, the late 1920s witnessed an explosion of Spanish-language recording and broadcasting.

Pedro's radio shows on Los Angeles stations KNPC and KELW reached hundreds of thousands daily.

Other radio announcers like Tony Sain and Ramon Arnaiz soon followed Pedro with their own programs.

Despite the competition, none was as popular as Pedro J. González.

announcer: Pedro's radio show was broadcast live from the Teatro Hidalgo in the heart of the Mexican barrio from 4 to 6 in the morning.

Throughout the Southwest, thousands of Mexicans up at the crack of dawn to go to work in the canneries, factories, and fields, tuned in their radios to hear their favorite announcer and recording stars.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] announcer: Many young singers and musicians began their careers on Pedro's show, creating a unique style of music associated with Los Angeles.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] announcer: But no group proved as popular as the one he formed with Fernando Linares, Ismael Hernandez, Victor Sanchez, and his brother, Jesus Sanchez.

They called themselves Los Madrugadores, the early risers, and recorded over 100 songs on Columbia, Okeh, Victor, and other labels.

[singing in Spanish] Pedro wrote many of his most famous songs during this period, including, "Mañanitas tapatías," "Sonora querida," "¿Por qué te fuiste?," and, "Lavaplatos."

[singing in Spanish] In the 1920s and 1930s, Pedro's radio show helped perpetuate Mexican culture, language, and music in the Southwest at a time of increasing hostility toward immigrants.

announcer: With the onset of the Great Depression in 1930, Mexicans in Los Angeles and throughout the Southwest became the scapegoats for a stagnant economy.

Half a million people of Mexican descent, including many who were US citizens, were deported to Mexico.

Pedro used his radio show and music to protest the discrimination of the period.

On one occasion, Pedro announced on his radio show that many workers were needed to clear land.

Two hours later, hundreds of Mexican workers arrived in downtown Los Angeles, carrying picks and axes ready for work.

Thinking the workers were armed for some kind of uprising, the police began to throw them into paddy wagons.

Supervising the arrests was Buron Fitts, the district attorney who voiced the fears of many about Pedro's influence in the Mexican community.

announcer: By 1933, Pedro's immense popularity was perceived as a threat to the Anglo establishment of Los Angeles.

After many unsuccessful attempts to cancel his broadcasting license, the authorities stepped up their campaign against Pedro, arresting him frequently on minor charges, then releasing him for lack of evidence.

But in March 1934, these city officials brought forward a young woman, Dora Versus, who accused Pedro of raping her.

The trial drew the instant attention of the media in daily headlines.

The authorities could not find a courtroom large enough for the hundreds of fans who clamored to see Pedro and his family.

announcer: The trial was full of inconsistencies.

The main witness, Rosa Mason, a dancer whom Pedro had once fired, contradicted herself on the witness stand.

Still, on March 31, 1934, an old Anglo jury found Pedro guilty and sentenced him to 50 years in San Quentin State Prison.

The defense appealed the case and Pedro was immediately offered probation by the trial judge.

announcer: Eight months later, Dora Verso signed an affidavit admitting perjury.

She said she had lied on the witness stand because the authorities had threatened to send her to reform school if she didn't accuse González.

She said she knew Mr. González was innocent and she now wanted to set the record straight.

At the appeal hearing, the judge refused to admit the new evidence claiming Pedro's lawyer had incorrectly filed the appeal.

Before this decision could be contested, the Mexican community's most popular recording star, Pedro J. González was taken from Los Angeles County Jail to San Quentin Prison.

announcer: The harsh conditions at San Quentin did not silence Pedro.

In 1939, he and other prisoners organized a hunger strike to protest their inhumane treatment.

announcer: Ultimately, this strike brought about a major reform of the California penal system.

Outside San Quentin, Pedro J. González's defense committees sprang up all over the Southwest.

Hundreds of thousands of Pedro's fans clamored for his release.

Maria worked tirelessly on his behalf, going on the radio to ask Pedro's supporters for help.

announcer: Finally, in December 1940, six long years after his conviction, Pedro was paroled, but he was immediately deported to Mexico.

The train which carried him to the border stopped in Los Angeles at Union Station.

announcer: After being deported to Mexico, Pedro settled in Tijuana, where he formed a new group of Los Madrugadores.

Broadcasting over XERU, he played a central role in the development of radio in Tijuana and the border region for the next 30 years.

Pedro and Maria have lived in San Isidro since 1971 when Pedro was allowed to return to the United States to be close to his seven children, all US citizens.

Today, as in the 1930s, Pedro is committed to preserving his cultural heritage and is a strong advocate for the rights of people of Mexican descent in the United States.

[singing in Spanish] Despite his 88 years, Pedro, as head of the Revolutionary Veterans in California, continues to be an outspoken defender of his community.

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] announcer: Like the history of his people, the story of Pedro J. González, and other unsung heroes, is kept alive through the ballads of popular culture.

Although unrecognized by most history books, the endurance of their stories points to their continual vitality.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪