NET Journal; 172; What Harvest for the Reaper

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This record is featured in “Stories of the Land: Diverse Agricultural Histories in the U.S..” This record is featured in “National Educational Television.”
Series
NET Journal
Episode Number
172
Episode
What Harvest for the Reaper
Producing Organization
National Educational Television and Radio Center
Contributing Organization
Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
Thirteen WNET (New York, New York)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-75-074tmqqp
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Description
Episode Description
What Harvest For the Reaper is an unflinching study of the exploitation of migrant workers, filmed at a labor camp on Cutchogue, Long Island. (Cutchogue is a community less than two hours drive from New York City and half an hour from the Hamptons and other pleasure beaches of Long Island.) There, the migrants come from Southern backwaters under the promise of wages they could never receive at home -- and which they never collect in Cutchogue. The program follows two groups -- one brought in for summer strawberry and string-bean picking, the other imported for the potato season in the fall. Cameras follow them as they work in the fields, live in the mean camps, and learn some economic facts of life as taught by Andrew Anderson, crew chief and camp manager. It is Anderson who goes to Arkansas to recruit workers, promising "extra money for Santa Claus," and returning with the men on a bus ride for which they will later be billed; it is Anderson who rents them blankets, charges for the fuel that warms the shacks, bills them for the bus ride to the fields each morning, and provides the credit for room, board, gambling, and small loans; and it is Anderson who keeps the books and deducts his portion from each check. Though the men resent Anderson and attempt to challenge his hold over them, their efforts are futile. They've been down too long and most of them back out of a planned confrontation. Similarly, during the potato harvest, they pay their union dues but don't know how the money is used or why they can't gain representation. To farmers who own and operate the labor camp, the workers are "destructive," "not men but two-legged animals" who are "interested in what they can get out of you, not what they can do for you"; who "like this type of travel, this type of work, and don't want responsibilities." To the potato processor, who also gains from their labor, they are men "exploited" not by the potato industry, but "by their own kind." The workers express their fear and their disillusionment. Some lament the lack of money to get back home. Others wish for a better life for their children. But most will be forced on to the next migrant camp, where the "economics of exploitation" await them. (These economics provide, for instance, that the landowner collects $200 for a product which reaps $12 for six workers.) The Rev. Arthur Bryant, head of the migrant committee of the Suffolk County Human Relations Commission, deplores the fate of the migrant ("He is us") in a society that values the "health of industry, not human life." In conclusion, the program notes that in the 10 years since Edward Murrow's 'Harvest of Shame," the migrant worker remains victim of a system he never made. "NET Journal -- What Harvest for the Reaper" is a production of National Educational Television, produced and written by Morton Silverstein. This hour-long piece, recorded on videotape, aired as NET Journal episode 172 on January 29, 1968 and as NET Journal episode 194 on July 1, 1968. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1968-01-29
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Documentary
Topics
Economics
Employment
Rights
Copyright National Educational Television & Radio Center January 29, 1968
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
01:00:07
Embed Code
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Credits
Director: Silverstein, Morton
Director: Silverstein, Morton
Producing Organization: National Educational Television and Radio Center
Writer: Silverstein, Morton
Writer: Silverstein, Morton
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-57317f43e19 (Filename)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-1e1098b1a2c (Filename)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Master
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-714ffef5511 (Filename)
Format: Betacam: SP
Generation: Master
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: cpb-aacip-f984e6a5fd2 (Filename)
Format: 16mm film
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-f278112ae63 (Filename)
Format: 1 inch videotape: SMPTE Type C
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-ef3cceb2369 (Filename)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-b3802ea0644 (Filename)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-2ab68e75712 (Filename)
Format: 1 inch videotape
Generation: Master
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: cpb-aacip-f0e83c5c620 (Filename)
Format: 16mm film
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-7e7facb0979 (Filename)
Format: 1 inch videotape
Generation: Master
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-a01cdccd5b8 (Filename)
Format: 1 inch videotape: SMPTE Type C
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-7206d586a5e (Filename)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-15bd0af8052 (Filename)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-b32e82a7644 (Filename)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-65b18df887e (Filename)
Format: Betacam: SP
Generation: Master
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-157656e9d35 (Filename)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Master
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Citations
Chicago: “NET Journal; 172; What Harvest for the Reaper,” 1968-01-29, Library of Congress, Thirteen WNET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed July 27, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-074tmqqp.
MLA: “NET Journal; 172; What Harvest for the Reaper.” 1968-01-29. Library of Congress, Thirteen WNET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. July 27, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-074tmqqp>.
APA: NET Journal; 172; What Harvest for the Reaper. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, Thirteen WNET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-074tmqqp