#bracero program

Riverside Art Museum

exhibition by Tamara Cedré

Draft of letter from the Dept. of Labor to the Imperial Valley Farmers Association, 12/18/1962. 

The Bracero Program recruited Mexican men to work as farm laborers in the U.S. Wages were higher than in Mexico, but braceros faced exploitation and abuse.

Record Group 174: General Records of the Department of Labor

Series: Records Relating to the Mexican Labor ("Bracero") Program

File Unit: R.T. Englund Co. (El Centro) Elizabeth A. Longebohn charges

Transcription:

Hi! For my birthday (7/4) I have created a google document with readings and resources for parts of Mexican-American history that I feel are swept under the rug and not represented or taught in schools as they should be. In the google doc are phrases that can be searched but I have also attached articles under the phrases for quicker access. At the bottom of the document I have also included a list of resources for undocumented folks. If for my birthday you could reblog this post and/or pick a phrase you haven’t heard of or want to learn more about, then read the articles or article attached that would be absolutely amazing! I am trying to get as much exposure to these readings and resources as possible. I have posted across all of my social media apps and wanted to include tumblr. Thank you, I appreciate you all!

In the mid-twentieth century, [Historian Lilia Fernández ] writes, both Mexicans and Puerto Ricans came to the mainland United States as part of a “simultaneous state-sponsored labor migration…that brought into relief their shared racial subordination.”

Shift Farm Safety into High Gear

In the United States, the third week of September marks the start of National Farm Safety and Health Week (NFSHW).  Begun by Presidential Proclamation in 1944, NFSHW acknowledges the dangers associated with agriculture work, and highlights safety precautions and trainings that can reduce workplace accidents and deaths.  

Each year, the National Education Center for Ag Safety (NECAS) provides farmers with programs and materials to promote farmer safety and health.  This year’s theme is “Shift Farm Safety into High Gear” and today’s focus is on tractor safety and rural roadway safety.  

In April 1945, William Anglim, Chief of Operations for the Office of Labor’s Mexican National Worker Program (Bracero Program), wrote that 54% of the 200 deaths reported during 1942, 1943, 1944, and early 1945 were “caused by all accidents, representing 108 workers, many of whom could have been saved by a better understanding and adoption of simple principles of accident prevention.”

Both Arizona and California have strong farming histories, and many records in the National Archives at Riverside relate to those histories.  In honor of the farmworkers risking injury each day, we’ve pulled together a few highlights from our materials. 

Series: Administrative Files, 1943-1948. Record Group 145, Records of the Farm Service Agency, 1904-1983. (National Archives Identifier: 33753365).

Series: Photographs, 1936-1942. Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1999. (National Archives Identifier: 561578).

Long-Lost Photos Reveal Life of Mexican Migrant Workers in 1950s America

1.  Portrait of Mexican farm laborer, Rafael Tamayo, employed in the United States under the Bracero Program to harvest crops on Californian farms, 1957. 

2.  Mexican farm workers, on a farm in California, 1957.

3.  Mexican laborers show their 'permission to work' papers in California, 1957.

4.  Mexican laborers in line at a reception depot for processing and assignment in El Centro, Calif., 1957.

5.  After the various medical examinations, the men are dusted with DDT.

6.  A Mexican farm laborer climbs a ladder under a date palm tree, California, 1957.

7.  Tamayo and his fellow workers take a break for food during their work day on a ranch in California, 1957.

World War II affected the U.S. labor market in countless ways, but in the farms of the South and West, the impact was perhaps most visible when harvest time arrived. With American workers off fighting and therefore hard to come by, Mexican farm workers were brought to the U.S. as legal guest workers known as braceros.

The program continued after the war ended, as workers continued to cross the border in search of work. That was the world documented in 1957, when the photographer Sid Avery was assigned by the Saturday Evening Post to do a story on the Bracero program.

Avery was best known for his work with celebrities, but this assignment sent him in a different direction. The accompanying article, by Fred Eldridge, explained how each year more than 400,000 legal Mexican laborers filled the role of "modern agricultural mercenary" helping make the U.S. farming industry work.

"I came to America," Rafael Tamayo, the main subject of the story, told The Saturday Evening Post, "because my family and I are very poor. I am a campesino [farm worker]. I earn seven pesos a day."

At that rate — seven pesos was the equivalent of 56 American cents — Tamayo had decided it was worth the risks and the social stigma to enter the program. If he wound up with an undesirable contract he would be out his expenses, but a good job could help him move up in the world. The generally rosy view presented by Avery and Eldridge was not a complete picture of the Bracero program. For example, activists on both sides worried about exploitation of and discrimination against Mexican labor, and the broader effects on the economy of bringing workers from one market to another.

But when the program was allowed to expire at the end of 1964, farmers protested that they could not find or afford enough American workers to harvest their crops — and undocumented immigration soared.

Celebrate Immigration as Key Part of National Birthday Party Immigration is intimately linked to American history. Thomas Jefferson listed obstruction of immigration among the grievances in the Declaration of Independence. Immigration was essential to populating the country. Despite that, arguing over immigration isn’t new. Americans have argued over it for 250 years. The argument is unlikely…