Humanizing the farmworkers movement from a pan-Latino scope that documents the experiences of Mexican laborers as well as Central Americans and Puerto Ricans, this book captures the voices of unionism, depicts the impact of the Bracero program, and reveals how U.S. immigration politics affected real people.
Covering experiences that range from those of Puerto Rican sugar cane cutters in Hawaii to those of Central American farmworkers in California, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, this document-based book supplies a compelling history of Latino laborers across hundreds of years of American history up to the turn of the 21st century. It gives voice to the struggles of Latino farmworkers and migrant laborers across the United States through excerpts of personal narratives, oral histories, newspaper articles, official government documents, and interviews. The result is an insightful and accurate account of farm workers and migrants in the United States, and their impact on unions and the nation at large.
Documents of the Migrant Farmworkers Movement: Eyewitness to History begins with accounts by Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican laborers who came to colonial America in the 16th century. Readers will learn what life was like for Puerto Rican laborers who worked on farms in New York and New Jersey during the World War I era to the post-World War II years; understand the reasons for pro- and anti-Bracero sentiments in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s; and consider the sobering accounts of violence suffered by cart-drivers in Texas in the 1850s as well as the discrimination encountered by Chilean, Mexican, Mexican American, and Peruvian miners during California's gold rush. As evidence, government documents-such as the Greaser Act, the Foreigner's Tax, and a Texas Government edict to protect cart-drivers-are presented for readers to inspect firsthand.
* Provides readers with absorbing firsthand accounts of the experiences, struggles, and successes of Latino farmworkers, laborers, and activists from the 19th century to the turn of the 21st century* Presents perspectives from both sides of the Mexican farmworker issue, voicing the opinions of activists in the United States and Mexico, Mexican and non-Mexican, enabling a deeper, more universal understanding of labor and migrant workers' issues
* Introduces readers to the stories of children regarding their migrant worker experiences as well those of teachers, librarians, and college students to depict how politics, economic policy, and discrimination affect real people
- ISBN10 1440855161
- ISBN13 9781440855160
- Publish Date 30 September 2018
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Greenwood Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 275
- Language English