This home movie captures scenes of the Cummings family at home and in their community in El Paso throughout the early 1940s. The family celebrates Easter, has a birthday party, dances in costume in the yard, plays in the snow, and visits a farm where they are chased by geese. Of particular note are scenes of a local festival, likely the May Festival of 1944, which includes a small parade, cultural dances, and a May Pole. Scenes of a horse show are also included. Please note: several dancers at the May Festival are in blackface make-up. The Texas Archive of the Moving Image does not condone this practice, but presents this film as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as to claim this racist behavior never existed.

El Paso County Brownsville El Paso Cameron County

TFC 1940s 1940’s home movie home movies kid kids child children rabbit rabbits bunny bunnies toy toys garden gardens costume costumes dog dogs puppy puppies pet pets dance dancing dancer dancers dances Easter egg eggs hunt hunts holiday holidays baby babies toddler

toddlers cake cakes birthday birthdays turkey turkeys bird birds goose geese farm farms somersault somersaults tumbling tumblers blackface parade parades dress dresses hula dancer hula dancers hula dancing May pole queen queens ritual horse horses pony ponies cowgirl cowgirls hunt hunting hunter hunters deer

snowman snowmen snow snowball party parties candle candles decoration decorations saddle saddles rider riders show shows May Festival Brownsville El Paso El Paso County Cameron County