She walked with Martin Luther King Jr. during the march and participated in the Civil Rights Movement — Graciela Martinez is one of the many interviewees who participated in StoryCorps.

Hoping to share and preserve stories from 10 pairs of Latinos in the San Joaquin Valley, like Martinez’s, Fresno State’s Henry Madden Library has partnered with StoryCorps.

StoryCorps is a national nonprofit organization founded by Dave Isay in 2003. The organization allows people to participate in recorded interview sessions. They later have the opportunity to share their recorded stories with others.

The event, which is part of the celebration of Cesar Chavez Day, was held on Saturday and Sunday.

“We work to record the stories of people living in the U.S.,” said Jhaleh Akhavan, a StoryCorps facilitator. “Usually, people come in with somebody that they know, and they record a conversation in an informal format about whatever they would like.”

The 10 interviewees were nominated and chosen through a public campaign. They were interviewed by somebody they know.

“The way it works is two people who know each other well [participate in the interview],” said Tammy Lau, head of the Henry Madden Library special collections research center. “It’s two friends. Two family members, getting together and sitting down together, talking about their story.” ­­­

Martinez was the first nominated interviewee to participate on Saturday.

She was interviewed by her son, Richard Herron. He asked her questions about her experience growing up, raising her children and her experience with participating in social movements. ­

“The very first [social movement] was of course being the daughter of a farmworker,” Martinez said. “I learned how to work in the fields and became aware of some of the issues.”

However, her first time participating in a Civil Rights Movement was when she marched with King and joined the United Farm Workers.

“I joined the United Farm Workers as Cesar’s secretary, but then I winded up working in the legal department,” Martinez said. “I was inducted into the legal department where we worked on constructing the American labor relations, which brought the farmworkers under the protections of the law, the same way other workers were.”

Other pairs of interviewees and interviewers from Saturday were Robert Navarro, a public defender; Anna Trigeros-Rocha, a Fresno State student who began college 30 years after graduating high school; Michelle Montelongo and Hannah DeVous, Fresno State sign language interpreters; and Eloise and Armando Rivera, a brother and sister who are both deaf.

Those recorded on Sunday were Robert G. and Erika Mendoza; Maria “Mama Lola” Dolores Lopez and her son, Willie Lopez; Julian and Angelina Flores; Manuel and Olga Jiminez; and Doris Martinez Ceballos and Cathy Lozano.

If approved by the interviewees, the recordings will be made available to the public, Lau said.

“The special collections research center will get each interview transcribed so we can make those available for research and use.” Lau said. “They will go online in our digitized collections and be available through the library’s online catalog and on the Web.”

With the participants’ permission, the recordings will be archived by the library and available for in-house use. Additionally, the edited versions of the recordings will be broadcast on KVPR.