US History

The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)

Labor History

Latino Americans

Migration

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Bracero Program.

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Bracero Program

A photo of officials standing with a group of braceros by a Southern Pacific train in California, 1942.

A photo of braceros arriving in Salinas, California, in a Pacific Greyhound Line bus, 1942.

A photo of braceros sitting on the back of a flatbed truck holding hoes, 1942.

A photo of a farm owner supervising braceros as they harvest sugar beets and toss them in the back of the truck, 1942.

A photo of braceros eating in the labor camp dining hall, 1942.

A photo of a man walking among the labor camp buildings at Spreckels Sugar Company in Woodland, California, 1942.

A photo of a group of braceros entering a church with the priest at the door and officials supervising, 1942.

A photo of braceros receiving paychecks in Skagit Valley, Washington, 1943.

A photo of braceros before a return to Mexico, 1963.

Government report responding to *Strangers in Our Fields*, a book critiquing conditions for laborers in the Bracero Program, 1956.

An excerpt from a 2011 oral history interview with a father who worked as a bracero in Arizona and his son (in Spanish).

A 2011 oral history interview with a man who grew up on a farm in Arizona recounting how hard the braceros worked in the fields.

A 1951 letter to a Dallas newspaper, detailing the author’s opposition to “wetback labor.”

A denied request for “300 Mexican nationals” to harvest pears, issued by the US Department of Labor, 1960.

A transcription of a 1962 *Los Angeles Times* news story: “U.S. Charges Falsifying of Bracero Pay Books.”

Resources

1. [Bracero History Archive](http://braceroarchive.org/about), The Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. 

2. [Braceros: History, Compensation](https://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=1112), University of California, Davis.

3. [The Bracero Program, 1942-1964](http://www.unco.edu/cohmlp/pdfs/bracero_program_powerpoint.pdf), University of Northern Colorado.

4. [The Bracero Program](http://www.c-span.org/video/?312267-4/bracero-program), C-SPAN.

5. [Uneasy Neighbors: A Brief History of Mexican-U.S. Migration](http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/05/uneasy-neighbors-a-brief-html), *Harvard Magazine*. 


Overview

Beginning in World War II, the Bracero Program brought Mexican laborers to the United States to remedy wartime production shortages. The program (which derived its name from the Spanish word for a manual laborer, “bracero”) continued until 1964, with braceros working mainly in agricultural areas in the Southwest and on the West Coast. Braceros worked long hours for low wages in difficult jobs that separated them from their families. In the United States, they also faced discrimination and became the subject of national labor debates. Get new insight into the Bracero Program and its workers through this collection of era photographs, documents, and oral history interviews. 

English

Mexican Labor and World War II: The Bracero Program

bracero-program_08_9e21017b16a4d70a749f40f77f5bb1e9.jpg

Courtesy of the University of Washington.

“Mexican farm workers receiving paychecks, Skagit Valley, 1943,” Digital Public Library of America,  https://dp.la/item/9e21017b16a4d70a749f40f77f5bb1e9.

A photo of braceros receiving paychecks in Skagit Valley, Washington, 1943.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 8 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Mexican Labor and World War II: The Bracero Program