Labor History Commons^™

Interview No. 1377, Petra Sanchez

Combined Interviews

Mrs. Sanchez had seven sibling and all went to school but she had to repeat first grade because her reading and writing. She was married in Durango, Mexico and then moved to El Paso with her family. Her husband was hired as a bracero working in cotton fields, all his family lived there because they did not need to pay for the house and utilities. He did the bracero hiring process for the Bracero Program in Juárez with the help of the “patron”, once he was bracero, his salary was $2.25 per hour and he worked Monday to Saturday, 8 …

Interview No. 1378, Pedro Torres

Combined Interviews

Mr. Torres twenty traveled to Chihuahua to get hired in the Bracero Program. Mr. Torres took a train called “El Pollero” in the city of Gomez Palacio and traveled to Chihuahua, Chihuahua. The most difficult part of the journey was in Chihuahua. The conditions of the train were very poorly. Finally they arrived at the recruitment center in Rio Vista, California where they had some medical examinations. Torres traveled without documents just with his Mexican military ID. Torres worked picking cotton in Texas and New Mexico with a salary of $0.05 per pound of cotton. He returned to work as …

Interview No. 1382, Alberto Valenzuela Gonzalez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Valenzuela worked in the field at a young age after his father passed away. He worked in the field planting cotton and corn. During the rainy seasons his uncle would take them milk cows and then produce cheese to sell in the United States. Valenzuela found out about the bracero program through his boss, Francisco Jacquez. His boss offered him a job in Arizona. At the age of twenty-nine, he went to Nogales and was hired in the bracero program. His new boss was Carlos Rosten with whom he worked in the field. Valenzuela worked in the field in …

Interview No. 1381, Ramón Valencia

Combined Interviews

Mr. Valencia traveled to Empalme, Sonora to begin the hiring process for the Bracero Program carrying his birth certificate and school records. After waiting about twenty days in Empalme, he went to Benjamin Gil in order to take the train to Mexicali. The next step in the process was to travel to El Centro, California. Then in El Centro, California, the authorities conducted medical tests on the applicants. Finally, Mr. Valencia took a bus to Ventura California and started working in a little town named Saticoy. Mr. Valencia worked on the orchards of lemon, orange and strawberry earning salary was …

Interview No. 1600, Agustin Diaz Roldan

Combined Interviews

He states that he rotated working in Imperial Valley, Phoenix, Arizona, and Salinas, California from 1954-1960, renewing his contract eighteen months at a time with the same farm company, he picked cotton, lettuce, tomatoes, chilly, asparagus, and strawberries; he also worked as a cook for the farmers, he remembers men were given three meals with lunch being delivered to the fields, they were charged $1.75 a day for all three meals, he would work seven days a week; he recalls in detail the procedure he went through to become a bracero; he used oil and dirt to make his hands …

Adams County History 2008

Adams County History

No abstract provided.

Black Labor At Pine Grove & Caledonia Furnaces, 1789-1860, Troy D. Harman

Adams County History

Black labor operating under various degrees of freedom found a suitable working environment, if not a safe haven, in several iron forges of South Central Pennsylvania, from the late 1790s through the 1850s. Primary accounts indicate that two in particular, Pine Grove Furnace of Cumberland County, and Caledonia Furnace of Franklin County, harbored runaway slaves to augment their work force. Pine Grove records, dating from 1789 – 1801, specify names of “negro” employees, verifying that black labor coexisted with white, but day books, journals, and ledgers do not denote status.1 Whether they were free men, or slaves rented out by …

Claiming Equality: Puerto Rican Farmworkers In Western New York, Ismael Garcia-Colon

Publications and Research

n July of 1966, a group of Puerto Rican migrant workers protested against police brutality and discrimination in North Collins, a small farm community of western NewYork. Puerto Rican farmworkers made up a substantial part of the population, and had transformed the ethnic, racial, and gender landscape of the town. Local officials and residents produced and reproduced images of Puerto Ricans as inferior subjects within US racial and ethnic hierarchies. Those negative images of Puerto Ricans shaped the way in which local authorities elaborated policies of social control against these farmworkers in North Collins. At the same time, Puerto Rican …

Contemporary Slavery And International Law, Jessica Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In this essay, the definition of contemporary slavery is derived from Kevin Bales in his book, Disposable People, which states that contemporary slavery is “The complete control of a person, for economic exploitation, by violence, or the threat of violence.” Contemporary slavery includes the slave labor of men, women, and children, forced prostitution, pornography involving both children and adults, the selling of human organs, serfdom, debt bondage, and the use of humans for armed conflict.

Searching For Chefs, Waiters And Restaurateurs In Edwardian Dublin: A Culinary Historian's Experience Of The 1911 Dublin Census Online, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

No abstract provided.

2008 Meeting Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes for 2008.

Interview No. 1389, Felipe César Chan-Noh

Combined Interviews

Mr. Chan-noh briefly recalls his childhood and the financial difficulties he and his family endured; he married at the age of seventeen; when he was eighteen years old he enlisted in the Mexican military; he heard about the bracero program while in the military; he went through the hiring process several years later; he recalls the entire process, including that he recruited forty to fifty men from his hometown to join the bracero program; in addition, he mentions going through the processing center in Empalme, Sonora, México; he recalls that one of the requirements for the braceros was to have …

Interview No. 1390, Antonio Cisneros Piña

Combined Interviews

Mr. Cisneros speaks of the obstacles he and his family faced working in the fields of México; in 1955, he married, and two years later, he had his first daughter; soon after his wife became very ill, which prompted him to enlist in the bracero program in 1958; he discusses waiting to get on the list of available workers before traveling by train and bus to get to the contracting center in Empalme, Sonora, México; in addition, he describes the difficulties he underwent while waiting there, including becoming sick from the heat; the resulting fever kept him from passing the …

Interview No. 1392, Alma Delia Fraile Barozio

Combined Interviews

Ms. Fraile talks about her family and her life growing up; her grandfather and uncles served in the bracero program, but she was too young to remember any details; by the time she was eighteen years old, she was involved with the Confederación Nacional Campesina (CNC) and their fight for equal land rights for women on ejidos; at the time, she was also studying for a career in social work; in time, she married and had two children; she and her husband were political activists involved in various social causes and cooperative projects; some time later, she began working …

Interview No. 1584, Ventura Gutierrez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Gutiérrez briefly recalls his childhood and the neighborhood he grew up in; he recalls accidently setting his home on fire while playing cowboys and Indians; they lost all of their belongings in the fire and as a result they moved to a Mexican barrio; he discusses the Chicano Movement and organizations such as MEChA, UMAS, the Partido de la Raza Unida, MAPA and the U.F.W.; he briefly discusses his time in the military; in 1972, Mr. Gutiérrez married; Mr. Gutiérrez worked as a teacher’s aid at Coachella Valley High School (1976-77) and obtained his elementary teaching credentials at San …

Interview No. 1397, Priciliano Suarez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Suarez talks about is hometown and working in agriculture on his father’s land; he briefly recalls his family and childhood; he remembers hearing stories about his father working in the United States, which made him want to do the same; in 1953 Mr. Suarez married at the age of seventeen; he and his wife had three children; in 1959 he went through the hiring process to become a bracero; as part of the process, he was medically examined, vaccinated, and deloused; in addition he mentions going through the center in Empalme Sonora, Mexico; from there Mr. Suarez was sent …

Interview No. 1398, J. Jesus Villaseñor Santoyo

Combined Interviews

Mr. Villaseñor talks about his life growing up; during the midforties, his uncle fulfilled several bracero contracts; Jesús saw how well it went for his uncle, and in 1955, he decided to enlist in the bracero program; he describes how he was able to get on the list of eligible workers in Irapuato, Guanajuato, México; from there, he was transported by airplane to Mexicali, Baja California, México, and then to Calexico, California, where ranchers picked the workers they wanted; as a bracero, he labored in the fields of Arizona and California picking various fruits and vegetables; he goes on to …

Interview No. 1393, Ángel Guzmán Domínguez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Guzmán talks about growing up, including his family and learning how to make shoes; one of his uncles served in the bracero program, which convinced him to do the same; in 1944, he and five of his friends traveled by boat, bus and train before finally arriving at the contacting station in Queretaro, México; with the proper documentation, he was quickly called and passed all the medical exams; he explains that the men in Queretaro went straight to the railroads, while those processed in Guanajuato, México, went to work in the fields; from the contracting center he was transported …

Interview No. 1396, Jesús Soberano Rodríguez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Soberano talks about helping his father with the livestock at a very young age; in 1959, at the age of nineteen, he went through the hiring process to become a bracero; as part of the process, he was medically examined and deloused; in addition, he talks about the embarrassment he endured during the examination; he traveled to Mexico City, Mexico and then to the processing center in Empalme, Sonora, Mexico; his first contract was in El Centro, California working in the cotton fields; he recalls the working conditions while caring for livestock in El Centro, California; Mr. Soberano recalls …

Interview No. 1394, Félix Loera Carrillo

Combined Interviews

Mr. Loera briefly describes his family and how they worked on an hacienda, but they did not live there; when he was seventeen years old, he came to the United States to work, without documents, in the hope of having a better life; after two years, he returned to México and shortly thereafter married; by the late fifties, he and his wife had two children and were struggling to make ends meet, which led to his decision to enlist in the bracero program; although most men had to pay to get on the list of available workers, he knew someone …

Interview No. 1395, Ofelia Morales

Combined Interviews

Mrs. Morales discusses making blouses at home and selling them to a maquilladora; Mrs. Morales recalls that her father inherited land and he cultivated guayaba; a priest visited with her parents in order to discuss Mr. Felix Loera’s marriage proposal; she recalls her parents being very upset; she was sixteen yeas old when she married Mr. Felix Loera; they had one son, Abadón; they learned of the bracero program in their hometown; she moved back to her parents home while her husband was working in the bracero program; she talks about receiving money from her husband and how she travelled …

Interview No. 1391, Nicasio Cortinas Ortíz

Combined Interviews

Mr. Cortinaz Ortíz briefly recalls his childhood and the financial difficulties he and his family endured; he talks about his hometown and working in agriculture while growing up; he married ten days before he joined the bracero program; when he was twenty-five years old, he heard about a call for braceros and decided to enlist in the program; he traveled to the contracting center in Monterrey, México; he details the harsh conditions he and the other men endured while waiting at the center; his first contract took him to work in the cotton fields of Texas; he goes on to …

2007 Meeting Minutes (July-December), Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from July to December of 2007.

American Fantasies Of Masculine, Physical Labor And The Dangerous Bodies Of Pacific Island Whalemen In Roger Starbuck's The Golden Harpoon And Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Jennifer Schell

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Throughout the nineteenth-century, writers, such as James Fenimore Cooper and Joseph C. Hart, fairly consistently appropriated the New England whaling industry for national purposes. They claimed the economic successes of the industry as American successes, and they positioned the whalemen as exemplary American workers. However, not all American whalemen were native-born Americans; some were foreign-born laborers. The presence of Polynesian workers and their racialized laboring bodies - often described as monstrous, grotesque, and repulsive - disrupted nationalistic appropriations of the whaling industry and its workers. What was so dangerous about these men was not just that were reputed to be …

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History Collection, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of the transcripts, original cassette tape recordings of public speeches, lectures, and oral history interviews spanning from 1962-2007. Interviews were conducted and recorded by Georgia Southern University’s Department of History and Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections. Those interviewed are mostly locals to Bulloch County and neighboring counties. Interviewees discuss their personal and family lives, historical events they were a part of, and circumstances surrounding their successes. The public speeches and lectures originated from an assortment of sources.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

2007 Meeting Minutes (January - April), Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from January to April of 2007.

'We Were Not Ladies': Gender, Class, And A Women’S Auxiliary’S Battle For Mining Unionism, Caroline Waldron Merithew

History Faculty Publications

“We Were Not Ladies” uses the 1930s dual union fight between the United Mine Workers of America and the Progressive Miners to challenge the historiography on women’s auxiliaries in the United States. While most labor and women’s historians have focused on the traditional and supporting roles that non-wage-earning women played in male unions, I show a more radical side to working-class housewives’ activism. Through the Women’s Auxiliary of the Progressive Miners, coal miners’ daughters and wives recognized that conventional gender roles could neither gain them political and economic power in their communities, nor could these roles encompass their evolving political …

The Role And Effect Of Advertising On Women During World War Ii, Laura Elizabeth Francis

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Advertising had an overwhelming effect on women during World War II; many women were influenced by advertising in the media to behave a certain way, buy certain products, and also support the war effort in a variety of ways. In the 1940s while many American women’s husbands, fiances, boyfriends, brothers, and sons were going off to fight in the War abroad, many women were fighting a war of their own on the home front. While men could prove they were active patriotic citizens by fighting in the military and taking government positions, female’s roles were re-written to show what they …

2006 Meeting Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes for 2006.

Interview No. 1576, Sebastian Martinez

Combined Interviews

Mr. Martínez briefly discusses his family; when he was roughly fourteen or fifteen years old, he began working with his father alongside braceros, chopping cotton and other such field duties; he goes on to discuss his experiences working with braceros, and he gives an account of their living and working conditions, provisions, recreational activities, religion, and their general dispositions; in addition, he explains the relationships between the braceros and the surrounding community in Pecos, Texas, which was largely segregated; several of his female relatives, however, did have romantic relationships with braceros; he also speaks about the children of braceros going …