The Bracero program & Mexican farm workers in the U.S. (part 1 of 2)

It’s fall, time for good fruit, good vegetables…and time for people to harvest them – thousands of people.  It’s also a good time to think back on the bracero program, along with other “programs” that brought farm laborers into the United States from Mexico.  Of course, not all farm laborers in the United States have come from Mexico, but in the past 50 years, the great majority did. 

Back to the bracero program:  it was originally intended to be Mexico’s way of contributing to the World War II effort.  The United States experienced a major labor shortage due to the war, and negotiated a treaty with Mexico to supply that labor.  The workers were to be temporary, and would not be allowed to apply for permanent residency or citizenship.  They also were to be confined primarily to farm labor.  This was the original bracero program.  

Poster from the Smithsonian's exhibition about braceros.

The program provided farmers in the United States (especially owners of very large farms) with labor, allowing for continued large-scale production of food.   In addition, it gave Mexicans, who at that time were passing through an economic downturn and anxious for jobs, what was theoretically to be decent work under decent conditions for decent pay.

While some owners of these large farms indeed provided what they were supposed to, others provided the workers with poor conditions, or failed to pay them all they were owed, or engaged in other abuses.  In addition, as they first entered the United States, the workers were subject to practices such as being sprayed with DDT at the border.  (At that time, the full extent of the harm of DDT was not known.)

Center portion of another of the Smithsonian posters.

The work was very hard, in many cases made especially difficult because they were required to use something known as the “short-handled hoe,” a tool which required the laborer to bend over all day while working in the fields.  Long-handled hoes existed which would not have required this, but the farm owners considered these to be bad for the plants.  (Apparently, the plants were more important than the workers, many of whom experienced severe back problems because of using the short-handled hoe.)

NOTE:  photos in the posters are by Leonard Nadal.

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We are working on a documentary, Strong Roots, Bright Flowers:  Arts of Mexican Immigrants and Chicanos, which will tell more about farm laborers from Mexico.  To keep up with our work, sign up for our newsletter at this LINK.