August 1 – Nov. 17, 2019
Sculptor Diana Le Marbe and painter Jeri Desrochers have teamed up to depict an often overlooked period of immigrant history under the Braceros Labor Contract from Mexico (1942-1964).
Braceros History By Raymond Cobos
The Braceros Program-
The Bracero Program is a term given to the Mexican Farm Labor Program Agreement between the United States and Mexico. A series of these agreements were signed from 1942 to 1964. The main purpose of the program was to provide guest agricultural workers to harvest crops in the United States to replace citizens who were serving in the U.S. armed forces at the beginning of World War II.
Approximately, 4.5 million contracts were signed, each representing a Mexican worker brought into the United States to harvest crops throughout the U.S., with the majority laboring in Texas and California. A significant number of braceros were recruited for harvesting into the Northwest (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.)
Provisions of the program mandated adequate wages, housing, transportation, feeding, and basic medical care for the braceros. The agreement was extended in 1951 with annual extensions until its termination in 1964.
Benefits of the Braceros Program-
Many braceros were able to save money to send to their families at home. This enabled many to purchase land or improve their family’s living conditions.
In many communities in the American Southwest, Braceros were transported into towns to make purchases of clothing, appliances, and other personal items. These funds then circulated throughout the communities and retailers.
Many braceros became valued employees who then stayed in the U.S. making their homes here at a much higher standard of living. Many of these people went on to higher paying positions and permanent residency in the United States.
The Braceros Program helped the United States feed its people and its military due in part to the willingness of the Mexican people to harvest crops throughout the nation in every type of adverse condition. Braceros performed hard, difficult labor for wages which local American laborers would often not accept.
Braceros work in many states but were generally concentrated in Texas, California, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. In Luna County, New Mexico, the number of bracero varied from 1600 to 3000 with most farms having 10 workers each. A couple of farms employed as many as 40 or more workers. New Mexico, where the artists in their project are from, averaged around 18,000 braceros.
Controversies leading to the termination of the Bracero Program-
Over a period of time local agricultural workers in the U.S. were able to convince Congress that the Bracero Program was suppressing farm wages. Opponents or critics of the Bracero Program pointed out wide spread abuses of the braceros by unscrupulous growers and an indifferent U.S. bureaucracy. Promises for decent contracted wages were not kept resulting in many braceros working long hours and receiving less than 10 cents a day.
Many braceros were housed in decrepit and unsanitary housing. They were fed inadequate diets and unfamiliar foods often at unreasonable schedules. Ill or injured braceros were more likely to be sent back to Mexico than receiving even basic medical care. Unsafe transportation resulted in multiple deaths and injuries as trucks and buses were struck by trains, overturned or collided with other vehicles and objects. Probably most families of braceros losing their lives received little or no compensation as outlines in their contracts. Many braceros did not receive the mandatory deduction in their wages to be sent to banks in Mexico for legally guaranteed savings accounts. It is stipulated that ex-braceros could received up to $3,500 each, totaling $500,000 during the program from 1942-1948. Efforts to recover those funds on behalf of the braceros continues in Mexico. Many braceros were victimized by corrupt Mexican officials affiliated with the Bracero recruiting activities in Mexico. Often these corrupt officials would demand bribes to return documents issued to braceros, which enabled them to cross back and forth into the U.S. to work during harvests throughout the year.
Participants in the Braceros Program deserve great respect for their labors from both the people of the United States and Mexico. They have certainly earned it. They came to our lettuce fields, our railroads, our dairies, our ranches, to work –to work very hard and very efficiently. If it were not so, the employers who used them or abused them would not have put them out in the hot sun and cold winds by the thousands, and hundreds of thousands. By the time the program ended employers had used more than 4.5 million workers.