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• 1 2021-04-19T17:25:30+00:00 Dámaso Ramírez 1 Club Purísima de Rincón, Guanajuato plain 2021-04-19T17:25:30+00:00
  Club Purísima de Rincón, Guanajuato
  
  Oral History Transcription
  
  Oral History Audio
  
  Name of interviewer: Enrique Alvear
  Date of Interview:  June 14, 2016
  Location: Chicago, IL
  Interview Language: Spanish
  
  Originally from Guadalupe de Jalpa, Guanajuato, Dámaso Ramirez came to Chicago in March of 1977 as an undocumented immigrant. He studied elementary school in Mexico while working on the family farm since he was 5 years-old. During his first months in the US, he worked as a farmer in New Mexico, Colorado, and South Dakota. After that, Dámaso traveled to Chicago, Illinois, and lived in his aunt’s house. Once in the city, he started to work as a contractor and machine operator in a factory while attending several courses on self-improvement and a community college to learn English as a second language. In 1992, Dámaso married and had three sons in Chicago. In 2016, he divorced after a very long marriage. After working several years in different car dealerships, Dámaso decided to open his own car dealership in 1990. Between 2000 and 2004, Dámaso was the president of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC) and oversaw the transition from the Mexican American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois to IHCC and then collaborated in the foundation of the “United South West Chamber Commerce” in 2006. While he was working on the IHCC, he became involved in Casa Guanajuato. At that time, there were around 36 clubs involved in Casa Guanajuato, a federation of hometown clubs from Guanajuato. He collaborated in Casa Guanajuato from 1995 to 2000. Several years before, Dámaso had founded the Club Purísima de Rincón. When he assumed the presidency of IHCC, he temporally left Casa Guanajuato but he later served as president of this federation from 2012 to 2015. Casa Guanajuato in Chicago is dedicated to offering support for several hometown club’s social programs in Guanajuato, Mexico and receives financing from the state government of Guanajuato. Casa Guanajuato promotes tradition and culture from Guanajuato in Chicago.