Labor History Commons^™

The History Of The Labour Movement In South Korea 1947-1997: The Role Of Blue Collar And White Collar Workers, Cahyo Pamungkas

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

Portland's Goose Hollow, Tracy J. Prince

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of Portland’s oldest neighborhoods, Goose Hollow is steps from downtown and beloved for its quirky character, historic homes, spectacular views, and walkability. Over a century ago, the actual “hollow” was dramatically altered when the meandering Tanner Creek, in a deep gulch with several trestle bridge crossings, was diverted underground and infilled. The creek’s presence is still felt in the ravine carved through the Tualatin Mountains (spanned by the Vista Bridge) and in the neighborhood’s identity. This book provides definitive answers to how Goose Hollow got its name and how Tanner Creek Gulch was filled. Stories are also told of …

Interview No. 1638, Margarita R. Mendoza

Combined Interviews

Margarita Mendoza was an employee for Union Manufacturing in El Paso, TX; was born in East Chicago, IN on July 28, 1927; her parents were from Durango, Mexico; her father was a farmer for his mother’s family on their hacienda, she describes how they met when she was a baby and he was a farmhand; she reveals father’s brothers fought with the revolutionaries in the Mexican Revolution, but he came to the U.S. in 1910; she relays mother’s family struggle to escape the Mexican Revolution, she describes her parent’s courtship; she mentions they had six children while working in Kansas …

Taking A Deep Breadth: The Rhetorical Construction Of Solidarity In The American Labor Movement, William O'Shannon Murphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the rhetorical fragments in three case studies of the American Labor Movement constituting movement members in solidarity. Using Kenneth Burke's discussion of rhetorical substance, this project explores the possibilities for developing deep and broad forms of solidarity within the American Labor Movement. Rhetorical fragments of the Industrial Workers of the World, the United Farm Workers, and contingent faculty unionization efforts are explored.

I argue Burke's ideas of substance and identification provide a powerful lens through which we can examine the solidary practices of social movements. Through the examination of the case studies mentioned, I demonstrate that solidarity …

Italian Militants And Migrants And The Language Of Solidarity In The Early- Twentieth-Century Western Coalfields, Stephen Brier, Ferdinando Fasce

Publications and Research

This article uses the life and experiences of an Italian immigrant and labor militant, Carlo Demolli, to examine a range of issues, including: the intersection of ethnic and national identity and labor militancy and solidarity in the organizing efforts of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) among the ethnically diverse workforce of coal miners in the American West at the turn of the 20th century; the role of a "language of solidarity" as expressed in an Italian language version of the UMW Journal, Il Lavoratore Italiano, in sustaining a militant Italian immigrant workforce in the coal mines; and the …

Public Sector Labor Law And History: The Politics Of Ancient History?, William A. Herbert

Publications and Research

This article discuss three books that address various aspects of public sector labor history. It seeks to contextualize the current debate over public sector labor law and relations through the lessons of relevant history. The first book discussed is entitled The Man Who Saved New York: Hugh Carey and the Great Fiscal Crisis of 1975, by Seymour P. Lachman and Robert Polner. It recounts the leadership of Governor Carey and public sector labor leaders in reaching negotiated solutions through collective bargaining that helped solve New York City's fiscal crisis in 1975. The second book is a long-forgotten 1948 treatise Government …

Interview No. 1464, Silbano Robledo

Combined Interviews

Silbano Robledo was very tired of working in his town from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm without a good salary. After he got married, he started a small business selling peanuts. Mr. Robledo traveled to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to get hired as a bracero; He worked in El Valle picking cotton and then traveled to La Mesa de Lobos and worked doing the same job. He worked as a bracero for three years until 1959. He worked from twelve-hour days with a salary of $ 7.00 dollars per day. Robledo lived with his co-workers and they all together bought …

Interview No. 1438, Sebastián Ruíz Ávila

Combined Interviews

Sebastian Ruíz Ávila lived there up until his late teens. He worked as baker helper in Matamores until he learned about the braceros. He worked at Lamesa, Texas. He was able to help his family back in México by working in the cotton fields everyday. His payment was based on the amount of cotton he would pick up. He worked 6 years as a bracero for the same person. Mr. Ruíz didn’t know English during his time working as a bracero. After having a family in Mexico, Mr. Ruíz stayed there working as a brick-maker. Then, he became a politician, …

Interview No. 1474, Jesus J. Ibarra Huerta

Combined Interviews

Mr. Ibarra worked as a farmer since he was young. He traveled to Monterrey, Mexico to get hired as a bracero and then to El Paso del Aguila, Texas. Ibarra worked for the first time picking cotton in Laredo, Texas. He renewed his contract three consecutive times and worked in Bryan, Mission, McAllen and Mandy Texas. Ibarra worked in six different cities around Texas in 1957 and 1958. He renewed his contract and worked for eight months picking beetroot in Bay City, Michigan. He worked as a bracero for the last time in 1964. He got his American residency thanks …

Interview With George Schmidt, Melena Grace Nicholson

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 154 minutes

Oral history interview of George Schmidt by Melena Grace Nicholson

Chicago Public School teacher and union activist, George Schmidt discusses his work as editor of Substance a newspaper covering public education that he helped found in 1975. His activism was sparked during his college years and he recounts his work during his teaching career. He was involved in the G.I. movement and military counseling, working with ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union), and people in Angola and Mozambique, before becoming a teacher. His interest in military counseling and the G.I. movement stems from his own parents’ experience during …

Interview No. 1466, Antonio Garcia Delgado

Combined Interviews

Antonio Garcia Delgado worked picking pumpkins since he was a child. He traveled to Monterey, Mexico with his father and both were hired to work as braceros. Garcia worked picking cotton in Santa Rosa, Texas. He renewed his contract and worked in Mumford, Texas. Garcia never knew how much money he earned during that time because his father collected his checks. Garcia collected around two hundred and twenty pounds of cotton per day. Garcia traveled with his wife to San Antonio, Texas and worked without documents He feels proud because he became an American Citizen.

Interview No. 1471, José Tello

Combined Interviews

Mr. Tello briefly recalls his childhood and how it was growing up in the ranch he lived in; while working in the ranch he heard about the Bracero Program and traveled to the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, where the processing center was; he explains that the process was fairly easy for him and that there weren’t many requirements or medical examinations; he recalls crossing the border at Laredo, Texas; as a bracero he completed several contracts picking cotton and radish in the states of Texas, California, and Arkansas; he briefly describes the living and working conditions at the …

Interview No. 1467, Ramón Gil

Combined Interviews

Ramón Gil worked as a bracero at Salt Pacific in Sacramento, California. Gil organized the material for the railroad for six months, then he moved to Tampico, Mexico. In Tamaulipas, he worked in the Mexican oil business and later he moved to Buffalo, New York, where he got married and started a family. As a bracero, he was paid every 15 days; his wage was $8.16 per hour. Gil had only one bad experience as a bracero, they were supposed to have a savings account at Wells Fargo, but he has never seen a penny of that money.

Interview No. 1470, Cipriano Romero

Combined Interviews

Cipriano Romero worked picking cotton since he was ten years old. He traveled to Monterrey, Nuevo León, México to get hired in the bracero program. In 1956, Romero started working picking cotton in Helena, Arkansas. He renewed his contract and worked in Stockton, California. Romero had his first child at 22 years old in Arkansas. The salary was between $1.55 and $2.550 per hundred pounds of cotton. He worked as many hours as he could five days a week. Romero never had problems with the food or the housing provided in the different places where he worked. Romero remembered that …

Interview No. 1468, Rafael Gonzalez M.

Combined Interviews

Mr. González talks about his childhood and growing up working in the mines since a young age; in 1950 he moves to the city of Nava in México, close to the border, where he finds out about the Bracero Program; he enlists and goes through the hiring process; furthermore, he mentions the hiring center, the requisites, and the medical examinations they went through; upon crossing he worked in the cotton fields, as well as in chard, lettuce, and beet root fields, in different ranches of the state of Texas; besides of the working conditions, he describes the living conditions, the …

Interview No. 1469, Jose Mata Alvarez

Combined Interviews

Jose Mata Alvarez started working at a very young age. He traveled to Tamaulipas, Mexico to get hired as a bracero for the first time. In 1960 he worked in Texas and in 1961 he moved to California. Mata worked picking beetroot and cleaning beans. He renewed his contract and worked for the last time as a bracero in 1964 in Denver, Colorado. He also worked picking grapes and lemon. Sometime, he worked six days a week and more than eight hours per day. The salary was based on the quantity not on the hours worked per day. He was …

Interview No. 1465, Asención Flores

Combined Interviews

Asención Flores Saldaña started working when he was ten years old. He heard about the Bracero Program when he was in Jalisco. Flores was hired as a bracero in Empalme, Sonora. In 1926, he worked as a bracero for three months in California. In 1929, he was hired again as a bracero and worked picking cotton in Pecos. Flores only worked three days in Pecos because the weather was very bad. Flores renewed his contract and worked in Soledad picking tomatoes. He worked six days per week and sometimes all week. The salary was $12.00 per day, but he paid …

Interview No. 1462, Fabian Landaverde S.

Combined Interviews

Mr. Landaverde briefly remembers his childhood talking about his hometown, and about playing and working in the lands along with his father; before he was a bracero, he entered the United States in 1951 to work in the railroad tracks in Colorado; in 1955, Mr. Landaverde, who was already married, went through the hiring process to become a bracero; he recalls going through the centers in Monterrey and El Paso, Texas; in addition, he explains that, because of his little knowledge in English, he helped as a translator in one of the centers; he also describes the hiring process where …

Interview No. 1461, Marcelino Gonzalez D.

Combined Interviews

Mr. Gonzalez talks about his hometown and how, despite the economic difficulties, he enjoyed his childhood; he describes his schooling and that when he was studying he wanted to come to the united States to work; around the year of 1954, Mr. Gonzalez went through the hiring process to become a bracero; he mentions going through the hiring center of Monterrey, Nuevo León, México; he describes the embarrassment of going through physical medical exams, where they were stripped and examined; as a bracero, Mr. Gonzalez remembers mainly working in the cotton, onion, and lettuce fields of El Paso, Plainview and …

Interview No. 1460, Ramon García

Combined Interviews

Mr. García mentions his childhood and how difficult it was when his parents separated; he and his siblings had to work to support their family when they were only children; he crossed illegally at the age of fifteen to work in the U.S.; when he was eighteen he decided to enlist in the bracero program and went to the contracting center in Monterrey, Nuevo León; he remembers the entire process, including the waiting times, the amount of people, and the harsh conditions; he recalls the medical exams he went through; after being hired he was sent to Arkansas to the …

Interview No. 1459, Jesus T. Castilleda

Combined Interviews

Mr. Castilleda briefly recalls his childhood and working in agriculture with his family; he crossed the border to work illegally in the cotton fields with his father when he was ten or twelve years old; he remembers that his uncles came as braceros and as soon as he turned eighteen he enlisted in the city of Monterrey; after enlisting, he went through contracting centers in Piedras Negras and Hidalgo, Texas; he remembers the medical exams they were put through; he worked in places like La Mesa and Big Springs, Texas, as well as in Tennessee and Arkansas, mainly on cotton …

Interview No. 1463, Juventino Muñoz P.

Combined Interviews

Mr. Muñoz briefly recalls his family and childhood; he remembers his family living under good conditions having lands and animals; when he was around 12 years old his family lost everything and he had to quit school in order to work in the fields; he served in the Mexican military until he became a bracero in June of 1963; Mr. Muñoz recalls the entire process, including going through centers in Piedras Negras and Mexicali; in addition, he mentions going through medical examinations; as a bracero he worked in the cucumber fields in Michigan and then he worked on the lemon …

Domesticating The Diaspora: Memory And The Life Of Sister Katie, Caroline Waldron Merithew

History Faculty Publications

Three shrines in Illinois honor heroes of the working class: one for the legendary Mother Jones; one for the Virden martyrs, who died for coal mining unionism, and whose memory is kept alive by labor organizers around the world; and one for Catherine (Katie) Bianco DeRorre. Katie's monument, unlike the others, draws few visitors today. But when it was dedicated in 1961, men and women — on the floor of the U.S. Congress, in the neighborhood where Katie grew up, at American universities, in union halls, on the streets of New York City, and in Milan — took notice and …

Woman's Work: Female Lighthouse Keepers In The Early Republic, 1820–1859, Virginia Neal Thomas

History Theses & Dissertations

During the Early Republic between 1820 and 1859, women, on average, comprised about five percent of the principal lighthouse keepers in the United States. These women represent a unique exception to the experience of the majority of working women during the Early Republic. They received equal pay to men, and some supervised lower-paid male assistants. They filled these predominately male positions because lighthouse work had much in common with stereotypical woman's work, they were most often related to the previous keeper, and they fit within cultural ideals of gender roles. Inquiry beyond the romantic image crafted for these light keepers …

The Norfolk Hoax: Fear, Social Violence And Ethnicity At The Norfolk Navy Yard During The Strike Of 1877, John Douglas Forrest

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the contributing causes why the command of the Norfolk Navy Yard feared a labor uprising or riot in the surrounding community of Portsmouth, Virginia in July 1877. Racial, class and ethnic tensions heightened to the point that on the morning of July 25, 1877, unknown agents distributed pamphlets around the city, which appealed to workers at the Navy Yard. A culture of social violence was prevalent during Norfolk and Portsmouth's post-Civil War existence. The ground-level view offered by this thesis is of the intense fear that spread across the country in 1877 as a result of severe …

Interview No. 1388, Maria Zarate

Combined Interviews

Maria Zarate was born in Paracho, Michoacán, México. Her father worked as a bracero in the United States. At a young age her father pasted away, for this reason she started working with her brothers caring for animal and planting seeds. At an age of twenty, she married for the first time. One year later, her husband passed away. Eight years later she married a second time only to take care of her second husband’s daughters. Her second husband, Federico worked as a bracero in the United States in 1954. Ms. Zarate lasted long periods of time without her husband …

Interview No. 1424, Feliciano Zarupe

Combined Interviews

Feliciano never went to school and from a very young age he began working, collecting resin from pine trees so it could be processed for various needs. Feliciano entered the Bracero Program in 1960 and the first part of the recruitment process, the physical examination, took place in Empalme. Then they were sent to Calexico where they were dusted against lice. Feliciano first went to Oxnard in Parque del Sol when he arrived in the United States and then was sent to Lompoc in Santa Maria county, California where he worked harvested lettuce for 45 days. A typical day began …

Interview No. 1436, Félix Flores Juan

Combined Interviews

Mr. Flores describes what life was like when he was growing up and working with his father as a fisherman; he recalls men coming to town to recruit people for the bracero program; later, when he married, there were no more fish, which prompted him to enlist in the bracero program; he took a boat off the island and then took a bus with a group of men to Empalme, Sonora, México; as a bracero, he worked in the fields of Texas, picking and packing various crops; he goes on to detail housing, provisions, duties, treatment, contract renewals, payment, remittances, …

Interview No. 1457, Custodio Navarrete Cárdenas

Combined Interviews

Custodio Navarrete Cardeas worked with his father caring for animals in the field. Navarrete was hired as a bracero in 1961. He traveled to Calexico in order to know his future work place. The first city where Navarrete worked was in King City, California cutting lettuce and carrots. Navarrete lived with all the other workers close to the work place. He played cards in his free time with other workers, sometimes he won money but sometimes lost the check. Mr. Navarrete went back to Mexico after his contract. Navarrete was shot and was not able to return to work as …

Interview No. 1456, Julio Valentín May May

Combined Interviews

Mr. May talks about growing up in a poor town and working to maintain an ejido; one of his older brothers enlisted in the bracero program and encouraged him to do the same; during the early sixties, Julio could not find work, and he had a wife and daughter to support; ultimately, he decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps and enrolled in the program; the names of eligible workers were printed in the newspaper, which he explains is how he knew when to go to the contracting center; he describes going to Empalme, Sonora, México, and the difficulties …