-[Henry VO] I started with Danny Trejo.
Danny's parents had a tumultuous relationship, and when Danny was three years old, his father forbade his mother to have any further contact with him.
So Danny was raised by his father, a man who unfortunately did not seem to care for him.
-My dad was real loving and playful with other kids.
-[Henry] Mm-hm.
-But... but not me.
-Street angel, house devil.
-Yeah.
-That's what my cousins used to call their father.
-Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah.
You know, all the other kids adored him, you know what I mean?
-[Henry] Mm-hm.
-'Cause he was always playing with them, quarters out of their ear, all that, you know what I mean?
And, you know, he'd always just give me a dirty look.
-[Henry] But why?
I know you've thought about it, and it had to be so painful.
-I don't know.
I think my dad always kinda, like, questioned who I was.
-[Henry] Mm-hm.
-You know what I mean?
And so it just was-- it was always apart.
-[Henry VO] Whatever its cause, his father's behavior meant that Danny knew little about his roots beyond the fact that they lay in Mexico.
To explore them, we focused on the man who brought them to America: Danny's great-grandfather Cirilo Garay.
We found him on an immigration record, crossing the border into Laredo, Texas, on March 18th, 1918.
-"Cirilo Garay, age 42, accompanied by wife, three sons, a daughter.
Length of time intended to remain: permanent."
-[Henry] Permanent.
They were moving here permanently.
-That is awesome.
-This is just before World War-- World War I ends in November of 1918, so the war is coming to an end, and your family is coming across the border and being admitted to the States, 104 years ago.
What's it like to see that, brother?
-That just gave me a chill.
It's kind of... That's amazing.
-And Danny, they were on foot, man.
-Yeah.
-[Henry] They immigrated with four kids on foot.
-I'm, like-- I'm speechless!
Wow!
-[Henry VO] Cirilo was born in San Luis Potosi, a state in central Mexico.
By the time he immigrated, he and his family were living near Monterrey, a city in the north.
To reach Laredo, they likely travelled about 140 miles -- a grueling journey with an end that was more grueling still.
Cirilo was soon working on a farm in Gruene, Texas.
It was an exhausting job, with few rewards.
The average wage of Mexican farm laborers in the region was 75 cents a day.
-[Henry] Did anyone in your family ever talk about this?
Any stories ever passed down?
-No.
-[Henry] The living conditions weren't any better.
Housing for Mexican laborers in Southern Texas typically consisted of a two-room shack.
-Wow.
-With an outhouse, no access to running water, and in that heat, man.
Many settlements were overcrowded, leading to diseases such as typhoid and Scarlet Fever.
And, of course, this was long before air conditioning; they were lucky if they had a fan.
What would you have done under such circumstances?
-Rob somebody.
-[Henry] [laughs] -I mean, what are you gonna... -What are you gonna do, you know?
-You'd have to leave.
I don't know.
Wow, that's heavy.
[laughs] -[Henry VO] Danny's great-grandfather did, indeed, decide to leave.
In 1920, he traded the fields for the city, and resettled his family in San Antonio.
Then, tragedy struck.
His wife Dolores died of a stroke, leaving Cirilo on his own, far from home, without a partner.
But somehow, he picked up the pieces.
By 1930, he'd remarried and was living in downtown San Antonio, where, astonishingly, he now owned his own home, as well as a grocery store -- an accomplishment that left Danny in awe.
-[sighs] It's really kinda proud, you know... -Yeah.
-'Cause, you know, I've seen documentaries and stuff about how people were losing their houses and the Dust Bowl and coming to... And to find out that my grandfather owned his own store... -[Henry] Yeah, and home.
-Yeah.
-That's pretty cool.
He was in the elite, as it were.
-Yeah, fooled everybody.
-Okay, thinking about what we've shared together so far, what would you say to Cirilo if you had the chance today?
-Thank you.
-[chuckles] -You know, and... thank you for giving us all a chance.
-[Henry] Mm-hm.
-You know, 'cause...
I know a lot of people that fell by the wayside... you know, just trying to get to California.
-Mm-hm.
-And... you know, so we had a head start; you know, the family actually had a head start.
-Yeah, man, and nobody gave him that store, that dude paid his dues.
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