The author's Mexican-American family history is rooted in Texas and Mexico, with grandparents and great-grandparents who moved back and forth between the two countries for work as laborers. Their family has a history of strong men who worked in cotton fields, as ranch hands, migrant workers, sheep herders, and grave diggers in Texas areas like Del Rio, Austin, Brady and Seguin. During the Great Depression, some family members migrated further into the Midwest and West Coast for better opportunities. The author's great-great grandfather paid his poll tax and encouraged others to vote in the late 1800s/early 1900s, wanting equal opportunities for all regardless of race or origin in Texas.