Bracero Farm Work and Housing

Title

Bracero Farm Work and Housing

Description

World War II became known as California’s second gold rush. Growers turned to the federal government to help fill the labor gap created by military enlistment and government military contracts, which were not open to Mexican workers. The 1942 Emergency Farm Labor Agreement signed by Mexico and the U.S. sent thousands of braceros (men who work with their arms) across the border to fill lower-paid, seasonal agricultural jobs. The war-time emergency program lasted until 1964 and deterred any successful agricultural unionizing efforts undertaken by Mexican farmworkers during WWII and after.

By July 1945 more than 58,000 braceros were working in agriculture (cannery and farm work), with almost 62,000 on railroad crews. At the peak harvest season of August 1954, there were 1,000 braceros employed in Santa Clara County. According to the transnational agreement, bracero workers were not to undercut local domestic labor and were to be provided with adequate housing. It was up to the Mexican consulate to inspect bracero living and working conditions. In California, with Mexican consular offices only in Los Angeles and San Francisco, it was difficult to monitor the program and enforce the terms of the agreement.

Scholar Talk

https://vimeo.com/812975793?share=copy

https://vimeo.com/812975591?share=copy

https://vimeo.com/812975427

https://vimeo.com/812975903?share=copy

https://vimeo.com/812975292?share=copy

https://vimeo.com/812976107?share=copy

Additional Online Information

Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942 - 1964 | National Museum of American History

Bracero History Archive

Harvest of Loneliness

Hispanic Americans: Migrant Workers and Braceros, 1930s-1964 — Calisphere

Identifier

B4SV Exhibit Topic Two: Slide 014