Ventura County 1941 Great Citrus Strike Refugees Quotes
- Title
- Ventura County 1941 Great Citrus Strike Refugees Quotes
- Description
- I lived in Santa Paula until I was 18. Then in February of 1943, I was drafted into the Army. My family was still living in Santa Paula. In [1941] the [Limoneira Company citrus] strike was lost, and my dad did not want to go back to picking lemons. They moved to San José… We knew San José best because we used to come and pick prunes [and apricots] here every year. The ranchers in San José would go and pick you up [in Santa Paula] because you couldn’t pack 13 kids and mom and dad in a car to come from Santa Paula…to San José with all your bedding and dishes and all the stuff you need because you were camping. The ranchers wanted to guarantee that they had enough workers to help pick their crops, so they would bring two extra families, three families, five families, six families. Whatever they needed. And then, after the apricots, then they would take you back. [In Santa Paula] we used to live in the Limoneira [Company] housing… In July, that is apricot season [in San Jose],.... In August, we used to pick prunes and then… we used to go back [to Santa Paula] and pick walnuts [and lemons]. So we knew there was a lot of work [in San José], you know, ranch work… irrigating, pruning, picking the crops and all that kind of stuff. [After WWII] [in San José] they worked year-round… -- cherries, pears… And then in the winter time you’d spray trees and prune the trees. There was always work. In San José, they had a lot of farm labor offices. All you had to do was call them up. The ranchers would call the farm labor office, and you would tell them, “I need three men, four men, to irrigate or prune or whatever, to pick or whatever”. Workers just call there and say, “I am looking for work.” And you didn’t have to go there. You could call up, and they would send you. That’s what my mother did. They knew her already. She’d call and say, “I have two men that want…work”. Then she’d tell my father and my brothers, where they needed help. And they’d just go there, and they had a job. [After WWII] I decided that I wanted to learn a trade, and, and the government was paying for it [through the GI Bill]. They would pay for you to go to school and learn something. That was part of the benefits you would get in the Army. And so I decided that I couldn’t go to college for four years because I already had two kids, and I worked to support them. I wanted something…that was better than working in ranches, and so, I picked barbering. And that’s what I have done for since 1950, 57 years. Fernando Chavez Interview by Dr. Margo McBane, Ph.D. and Peggy Wallace, Feb. 6, 2008, Cupertino, CA.
- Additional Online Information
- Tale pit
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Two: Slide 007.1
- Site pages
- Topic Two Gallery
Part of Ventura County 1941 Great Citrus Strike Refugees Quotes