BRACERO PROGRAMS: THE PROMISE OF A BETTER LIFE

Jesus G. Barragan-Chacon

THESIS STATEMENT
The Bracero program opened up the doors for many different events that would change the future of many Mexicana/os, for instance the rise of labor unions, the immigration and settlement of Mexicans in the United States, and what came to be known as the Chicano Movement.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What kind of impact did the Bracero Program have on the

migration of Mexican@s to the United States?

What rules where put into place at the beginning of the Bracero

Program? Where they actually carried out?

What sort of programs rose out of the Bracero Program? Where

they in the favor of the workers or against?

How has the United States exploited the use of Migrant workers? What forms of discrimination did the workers face as soon as

they got to the United States

EVIDENCE
I used many different articles that took a deeper look into the Bracero Program just to understand it

myself. A lot of what I found were, stories of mistreatment, government lies, the exploitation of the workers, unequal wages, and upright discrimination of the people who had these jobs.
Below are just a few examples of some of the quotes I used in my paper

Judging by the treatment that has been accorded him in that section of the state, one might

assume that he is not a human being at all, but a species of farm implement that comes mysteriously and spontaneously into being coincident with the maturing of cotton, that requires no upkeep or special consideration during the period of its usefulness, needs no protection from the elements, and when the crop has been harvested, vanishes into the limbo of forgotten things-until the next harvest season rolls around. He has no past, no future, only a brief and anonymous present
Records show deaths resulting from railroad accidents, sunstroke, heat prostration, and the like.

Abuses of the contract agreement also were frequent. Employers did not pay many of the braceros their wages, or when paid, involuntary deductions were made-for example, for unsolicited meals. Someworked the braceros for 12 hours while paying them only for eight ( Acua 254).
they took us to El Centro. Thousands of men came every day. Once we got there, theyd send

us in a group of two hundred, as naked as we came into the world, into a big room, about sixty feet square. Then men would come in masks, with tanks on their backs, and theyd fumigate us from top to bottom. Supposedly we were flea-ridden, germ-ridden. No matter, they just did it

SOURCES

Acuna, Rodolfo F. "World War II: The Betrayal of Promises." Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. Boston: Longman, 2011. 253-67. Print. Astor, Avi. "Unauthorized Immigration, Securitization and the Making of Operation Wetback." Latino Studies 7.1 (2009): 5-29. ProQuest. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Garcia, Mario T. "Book Review: Operation Wetback: the Mass Deportation of Mexican Undocumented Workers in 1954." The Public Historian. 3.2 (1981): 121-125. Print. Garcia Perez, Rigoberto. "This Day in Labor History: August 4, 1942." Interview by Erik Loomis. Web log post. Lawyers Guns Money RSS. N.p., Aug.-Sept. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. Ina, Satsuki. "Children of the Camp: Internment History." PBS. PBS, 1999. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. Kelly, Kate. "In Honor of Labor Day: Luisa Moreno, Labor Organizer." America Comes Alive In Honor of Labor Day Luisa Moreno 19071992 Labor Organizer Comments. America Comes Alive, 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Kibbe, Pauline R, Latin Americans in Texas, The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1948. Larralde, Carlos M. "El Congreso in San Diego: An Endeavor For Civil Rights." The Journal Of San Diego History 50 (2004): 17-29. History.msu.edu. San Diego Historical Society, 2004. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Leon, Sharon. "About Bracero History." Omeka RSS. Center for History and New Media, 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. Lugo-Lugo, Carmen R, and Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo. A New Kind of Containment: "The War On Terror, Race, and Sexuality. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009. Internet resource.