Viewfinder; Los Braceros: Strong Arms to Aid the USA; Los Braceros

Production of Los Presario strong arms to aid the USA is made possible by the public television stations of the Pacific mountain network and by Amador and Rosalie in honor of all the Mexican families who have toiled in the American fields. Imagine leaving your home and everything that's familiar. Saying goodbye to family and friends to work in the fields on farms on the railroads in a country other than your own. That is what millions of Mexican men did between one thousand forty two and one thousand sixty four. They were called but a fiddle's for the Spanish word for arms. But assholes these strong armed men came over the border to work in the United States initially feeling void left by American men going overseas to fight in a World War Two. Hello. I'm so chilled out ya know. And I am the daughter of what I said the Story of

my own father and the millions of other that I said else is one of hard work and a struggle. And at the same time opportunity opportunity to forge a better life for themselves and for their families. It is largely a story untold. Their contributions unrecognized in the United States until now. It began in nineteen forty two shortly after the United States entered World War Two. In agreement between the U.S. and Mexican governments allowed and encouraged Mexican men to work thousands of temporary jobs in the United States. The news about this new bit of programme spread quickly to every bustling city and remote village in Mexico. To get started all a man had to do was to apply at one of the country's screening centers. First of all they ran ads newspaper ads was ran by the Mexican

government to attract. People from particularly the rural areas to come into the cities and one of the first cities that opened up the center as well as Mexico City in 1942 and in 1942 attracted to many of them actually to be contracted. They figure they get it. For 5000 They got about 50000 people just in the city of Mexico the first time they try to contract them during the more than 20 years that even a single program was in effect more than two million Mexican men came across the border to work most trying to escape wrenching poverty at home. You have to remember when these folks came over they were mostly seem like they were destitute. If I didn't do their best you know like I said I. Would die over there because it was there. While most work was in farming ranching and railroads in the western and southwestern states but all signals were scattered throughout much of the United States including the Midwest and south. As the name suggests

recruiters look for men with strong arms and something else. That's one of the things that recruiters look for with calloused hands because they wanted men who had experience in manual labor. The program was administered by the United States Department of Labor. It required that employers pay at least minimum wage plus supply the men with other benefits such as housing mediators with the Department of Labor were on call to help resolve any problems. In the early 1950s Porter worked with but I say to us as part of his job with the County Farm Bureau in Las Cruces New Mexico they had a local compliance man with a department Leyburn. And as I recall there were about three of them here and they were Hispanic Spanish speaking people who had a good feel for both farming and for the brush. And these guys responsibility was to handle complaints and. And to take care of any disputes that might arise either from the job or

living conditions or whatever while still in Mexico prospective but our saddles were screened to make sure they had no criminal record. As a result there were no serious incidents of lawbreaking involving Brazils during the entire history of the program. Initially it was set to end after World War 2 when they came home but that didn't happen because the world would not want to return to the field so I can give you a real good example of that is my father. My father worked in the fields and my mother worked in the canneries and so when my father was working in the fields will war to erupt. He was drafted and so someone had to take his place. So that's when the program came in to take his place. Some came for reasons other than work. A retired teacher in California program as a school I already knew that I wanted to

get an education program. The instrument helped me. Starting on that road. Look at him looking back and say about my own father about Seattle in the 1940s. I knew two men who were lured by simple curiosity. The New York will go from you would get it I'm going to tell you if I had two friends if you're not university student but they had heard stories about how easy it was to earn money in the United States and all that and then we arrived here and found American farm but I would be fired. Martin we're going to get two weeks later they said thanks America but we're going back to Mexico. Yes and you know he asked me Where are you going to stay. I said yes but I'm going to stay because I need the money but it's you believe and off they went. Yes. For many of our saddles their first stop in the United States was near the

city of El Paso Texas which shares the border with the state of Chihuahua Mexico. As Buster has always been until very recently the major port of entry for Mexicans coming into the United States and this was also a major port of entry for the festivals and. Men coming over the border were often transported by train from Mexico's interior. Then processed at a facility like this one the Rio Vista center in the town of so Cordle outside El Paso. It started as a poor form for housing in rural poor people and even held German and Italian prisoners during World War Two. But following the war and until 1964 it was the clearing house where thousands of our saddles were contracted to work in the United States. Reporter work on proving my father was a farmer. I was born in the country and I studied agriculture

at school in Mexico. And his background in farming made whole Sidra meat as a gobble unnatural for the program. Mr There you go came from northern Mexico where cotton was widely grown. That gave him and some fellow bit of settles an advantage since picking cotton was a skill in high demand in Texas and New Mexico. We don't know if we're going to hear more. Well we were special because we knew about all sorts of work on the farm but they were serious didn't have our knowledge so we were able to teach. They were looking for another after close to 15 years as a bit of Seattle. Mister they got moved back to Mexico and had a long career with a sportswear manufacturing company. Today he lives in the Mexican city across the Rio Gandhi from El Paso. This was the first time he'd been back to Israel the stone and decade is right on the border.

But I'm more of a rough little if you want to here is the history of the present for us in Rio Vista. It's a great story. It's been 10 years since I've been here but it makes me happy. Thank God I've been able to come back. I was contracted to work in the field. I even work that ran across the street. While part of Rio Vista serves as a popular game Unity Center. Much of it sits in a state of arrested the K.. Many of its old adobe buildings crumbling but that makes it easy to imagine what life was like for men coming over the border to work in this unfamiliar new world. Still here old metal bed frames where the butter settles rested before

being sent to their assignments. Barracks where men congregated and slept. Sinks and bathrooms Quonset huts were health screenings took place while considered necessary. These were still humiliating the breasts were stripped disinfected for lice then examined. This is for the crew the blood and the next one for the x rays are like and vice versa. But these were the buildings. I mean it about she remembers it well as a new high school graduate in 1957. Her very first job was in the Rio Vista typing pool processing contracts for incoming and outgoing but assails her family came from Mexico so she spoke fluent Spanish. She processed up to 40 contracts a day working for the program until it ended in 1964.

The ones that I remember most vividly are the people that came from the state or haka. They were indigenous people and they were very poor. They had walked for miles and miles and when they came here they had that type of sandal and their feet were bleeding. It was just awful they had their white clothes and everything. And I don't know how long they haven't eaten because I was typing a contract for one of the gentleman and I was asking him questions and suddenly I looked at one thing you know did at the typewriter to type. What I was typing and I looked up and he wasn't there anymore. So I looked around and nobody said anything none of the rest of us that there was about 200 residents in the building at that time and I said where is a gentleman that I was talking to and they said here right there right in front of you. And I looked over my desk and sure enough he had pressed pressed that you know he had fainted. After being screened and processed the signals were issued. I did tific Asian cards recruiters from farms ranches and railroad companies selected the workers they needed and sent them by bus or train to their new

jobs. Few if any of our sales were rejected. The United States Department of Labor mandated that but assiduous made minimum wage paid by the hour or by the pound for jobs like picking cotton. As mentioned before those with prior cultural experience proved to be more valuable. Reese and Lucio are brothers in law who worked as a bit in the 1940s. Yeah but I learned how to drive a tractor because I was from the country from the ranch so I knew how to plow with mules and it helped me learn how to plow with a tractor. At that time I started earning three dollars and seventy cents a day for nine hours of work and when I started to plow in straight lines the boss raised my pay to $4. That was even better acceptance of but I said depended largely on where they worked. Among the worst places to be assigned was eastern Texas. Culturally more like the deep

south than the American Southwest. Discrimination was still evident particle in states like Texas which was denied when the program began. Because of the long history of discrimination. There were still signs that said no Mexicans or dogs allowed in various restaurants or public park public areas in the southwestern states of New Mexico Arizona and West Texas. Many farmers and ranchers were familiar with Mexican culture and spoke Spanish. You see the rope worked as a bit a siddur in 1959. He became a successful bee con farmer and store owner in Las Cruces but has never mastered English. He never had to let my own particular spot they wanted to. Yeah most of the farmers you know know Spanish 90 percent of the ones that I work fortunately manage very well and that's one of the problems. You know learn to speak English because you don't hear it. Most but not all of the money that I said earned made its way to their

families in Mexico and the Mundo miscanthus. And they had to put the new I mean I sent it to my people at that time and I still had my mom and my younger siblings take care of the rest of the money. I don't dance is finding girlfriends and doing whatever I wanted. That's right because I was young. The contrast between the time the dust settles were first contracted and when they finally went home to Mexico was dramatic and made a lasting impression on me knitted by Cheatham. When they came here the cat was very quiet. They would sleep and it was very quiet when they came back from going to the farms a big contract that every one of them had a radio. And every one of them had it both blessed and on a different station so you could imagine what it sounded like. Agreeing with me would kill

it with helping people helping somebody to better their life. It was great. While the southwestern United States was the starting point for many but most eventually spent time in California which had and still has the most productive agricultural land in the United States whether harvesting brussel sprouts along the coast or picking tree fruit in the South Valley but as it is continued a long tradition of immigrant labor in the state the city of Stockton honors contributions of the better. With this statue downtown. Stockton resident worked as a bit of sado and remembers

back breaking labor using tools that were eventually outlawed. The most difficult chore was a short handled hoe because a lot of people damage their lower backs and injury that lasts like their entire life. Today there are still people walking around bent over. The hot summers often made working conditions unbearable heat stroke and dehydration could stop a man in his tracks. Chavis was laid up by heat stroke but as luck would have it when he recovered he found another job in cooler conditions. And you know one more thing. So they told me about a chance to work on a dairy farm. And I worked there for two years milking cows. It was hard but it was at night so I

took a portable phone. But our signals were also critical to the Pacific Northwest especially in places like the Yakima Valley in eastern Washington where something unique about this valley is that it's one of the nation's premier valleys in terms of agricultural production of rivals. The San Joaquin Valley in California a small rebellion in Arizona that would underbelly in Texas and the only limitation here is the short growing season. During World War Two when field hands were drawn to the Seattle area to work in the defense industry. But as it also filled the void harvest sugar beets or hops and working on the railroads. But unlike California and the southwest with their long Mexican-American history the Northwest knew little about these newcomers making life more isolating lonelier for the typical but what community was there that he could

interact with and contrast to above settle in California or Arizona. There are no Mexican restaurants to speak of. There's no entertainment for Mexican people. There is no social fabric that is in the communities today. It was nonexistent in the 1940s. Still the contributions made by bit are settles in the North-West were publicly valued and eventually many of the men brought their families to the United States establishing themselves in farm towns like Granger with its lively Mexican radio station and top an ish with a colorful mural honoring the men who did so much to help the United States in the 1940s and beyond. Millions of Mexican men came to the United States as but a sado and their

contributions are finally being recognized. But little has been said about the sacrifices made by their families. Johnson knows firsthand about sacrifice. Her father was a bit of a sado who met and married mother while he was working in the southwest. Family grew to include many children and they spent their childhood as migrant farm workers. We were always moving. I know by the time I had reached sixth grade I had already been to seven elementary schools. It was so common for us to come home and all of a sudden our bags were packed and we were ready you know to go on to the next place that was that was something that we had a difficult time with. Josie's father was a good writer and he had a head for business as a result. He helped negotiate contracts for himself other but assiduous and even for his wife.

What I remember is that in Fowler Colorado he arranged for my mother to. Be the cook in this migrant camp and I remember us as children moving up to this migrant camp. Joe sees experience in migrant labor. Help her follow in his footsteps. She became a teacher in San Jose California and like her dad became active in contract negotiations for her local teacher's union. The importance of family ties and education had a lasting impact on children of the better. This is my mom. We came to live here with my dad and it means being separated from her husband was more than she could bear. So the mother of Florida's moved her little family from Mexico to live in his Texas but us little scamp. When my mom came in she brought me here. Then my dear what are you going to leave. You want to be with me but are you here in a community

where they're all man. And so they own you know that Rand gave my father and your room so he can have his family there. So that was something that I always remember because they were so nice to my dad grew up to become a nutrition specialist for Bussell schools. She attributes her success to lessons taught by her hardworking parents. You have to go to school because you eventually going to have your family. And then you need to do something for them to be in this is something there. My dad. He wanted to provide a better future for me. And also my mom says that her father paid the way through hard work and integrity to be honest. Honesty was very important to him. To never take anything that they long to me. You know and they came probably because of their religion also remember that there's one that's one of the the Ten Commandments to always do. The best that I could at

whatever I was trying to do to always follow the law and be a productive citizen. Took the advice to heart and grew up to become a councilwoman for the town of so Cordle making a difference in her community. Like her father made a difference in her life. This man went through a lot to get their jobs and to get you know what what they considered a better life or at least the middle extra money to take home. I never watched the World War Two documentaries that talk about how Americans won the war. True and the sacrifices that Americans went through but who fed the Americans who fed the lies. It was Mexicans but Searles. In recent years a concerted effort has been made to give but us the respect and recognition they deserve. This includes trying to

recoup money deducted from their paychecks in the first years of the program. Well the program lasted from 1042 to 1964 and there were periods of time when 10 percent of what I said was paychecks would be held back. And the idea was to hold it back until they return to Mexico at which point they would be given that 10 percent. So it was kind of forced savings program. But millions of dollars that were held just disappeared. Activists like California and Washington are working with attorneys to find out what happened to those millions of dollars. Well it's been a long struggle. They're confident that one day the. Stories of hardship.

The programme of all this being conducted by the Smithsonian Institution. Working with the Institute of oral history at the University of Texas at El Paso. The goal. To record in their own words as many life stories as possible in the United States and Mexico many of whom are now in their 80s and 90s capturing the stories any story is important I think people need to capture that and learn about their history and about their family because you know once what's your relatives have passed away and you lose that story and you'll never know it I think that is really important. The program officially ended in 1964 in part because of accusations that it undermined wages for U.S. citizens. In the 22 years of its existence. More than four and a half million contracts were drawn up for two million Mexicans while some returned home to Mexico.

Many more stayed united states becoming permanent legal resident or citizen adopted country. Most of the bottles are now senior citizens. They form the backbone of today's Latin American community overcoming difficult working conditions. Separation from everything the milieu or to them in Mexico. Eventually they reunited with their families started new lives in the United States and achieved the American dream. I'm so excited ya know and thank you for joining us. This is. The big. Production of Los percent strong arms to aid the USA was made possible by

the public television stations of the Pacific mountain network and by Amador and Rosalie boost DOS in honor of all the Mexican families who have toiled in the American fields.