The Bracero Program: 1942-1964
By Jessie E. Moreno
My family and I recently visited the Chamizal National Memorial to indulge in a little bit of our history here in El Paso. The main attraction there was an exhibition titled “Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program” which had been recommended by the son of a family friend, whose grandfather, along with my grandfather, had been a part of the Bracero Program in the 1940’s. The exhibition was organized and sponsored by the National Museum of American History with help and funding from the Smithsonian Institute and was established to portray and give insight on how men from all over Mexico were exploited for their cheap labor during a span of three wars: World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. All of these events were critical times in our history in which many, if not most of our American men were out fighting in countries all over the world.
As a student in elementary, middle, and high school here in El Paso, I was somewhat exposed to this program at a young age, but not to the extent of what had been delivered at the Chamizal National Memorial. The history that we El Pasoan’s receive in our local public schools comes mostly from textbooks that are written and published by Anglo Americans. The information provided in those textbooks is usually distorted, is dry and is sometimes meaningless. When those textbooks do talk about the Bracero Program for example, they tend to leave out crucial bits of information like the tales told by people such as my grandfather. In his stories, he quickly distinguishes how America, which had been portrayed as a benevolent country by so many, was instead a country full of narcissist people who would not for a second question throwing you under the bus just to make another cent. Through his accounts I could feel anger and pain, but I could also feel a sense of accomplishment in what he did as well.
I believed then and still believe today that this program was and continues to be a crucial piece of American history, especially for people like my family, who were born in America, but are of Mexican descent. There are quite a few of us who live here in El Paso, that have a grandparent, a parent, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, or a nephew and so on and so forth of whom were an integral part of the Bracero Program; a program spawned with courageous Mexican men who dared the odds to be a part of an American labor program that promised to provide them with better wages that they could not have otherwise earned in their homeland. By all accounts given, these men were seen as nothing more than animals, animals that could pull their own weight on the fields. They were treated like savages and yet they continued on with the struggle knowing that their family’s survival back in Mexico depended on it. Some of these hard laboring men grew fond of the United States, despite the way in which they were treated, and decided to make it their home. The Bracero Program would later serve to be an intricate piece of the Chicano movement, the social integration that took place in border towns such as El Paso, which greatly impacted the establishment of the Chicano neighborhoods into the massive, more prominent Hispanic communities that they are today.
Another intricate piece that should not be forgotten when telling the story of the Bracero Program, lies in one of the most influential Mexican-Americans of all time. On the last week of March, Mexican-Americans all across the United States take time to reflect and celebrate the birth and accomplishments of one of their own, one of the single most renowned Chicano activist of our time, Cesar Chavez, who in his own right, dedicated most of his adult life in protecting the distraught livelihood of the migrant farm worker. It was 1942, the year in which the Bracero Program was brought to the United States, that the Chavez family relocated from Arizona and landed in California. There, in the fields, they would soon share with Mexican migrant laborers the burden of blood, sweat, and backbreaking work, while also being equally discriminated against. Not long after, Cesar Chavez discovered the unpleasant taste of unjust wages, unsafe working conditions, and the disgusting treatment of Mexican-origin people. He would then go on to establish organizations such as the National Farm Workers Association, which fought for the rights of migrant farm workers, workers that included Mexicans in the Bracero Program. Although that is the case, Cesar would later fight to keep this program out of the United States, arguing that the constant inflow of Mexican migrant workers undermined the efforts of his group.
While I deeply resent the fact that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were racially discriminated against and were severely taken advantage of, I cannot but stop and ask myself the following questions: What if America would have not brought this program to our towns? Would our neighborhoods be the same? Would America be the same? Who then, if not Mexicans or other migrant workers for that matter, would have been charged with growing and harvesting our foods while America’s men were out fighting in some of the most gruesome wars of all times? We shouldn’t be so quick into passing judgment, because after all, we are who we are because of the tribulations we have faced and overcome. So in the end, like the title of the exhibition proclaims, it was a bittersweet harvest for both Mexicans and Americans alike.
Jessie Moreno - UTEP student.
As a student in elementary, middle, and high school here in El Paso, I was somewhat exposed to this program at a young age, but not to the extent of what had been delivered at the Chamizal National Memorial. The history that we El Pasoan’s receive in our local public schools comes mostly from textbooks that are written and published by Anglo Americans. The information provided in those textbooks is usually distorted, is dry and is sometimes meaningless. When those textbooks do talk about the Bracero Program for example, they tend to leave out crucial bits of information like the tales told by people such as my grandfather. In his stories, he quickly distinguishes how America, which had been portrayed as a benevolent country by so many, was instead a country full of narcissist people who would not for a second question throwing you under the bus just to make another cent. Through his accounts I could feel anger and pain, but I could also feel a sense of accomplishment in what he did as well.
I believed then and still believe today that this program was and continues to be a crucial piece of American history, especially for people like my family, who were born in America, but are of Mexican descent. There are quite a few of us who live here in El Paso, that have a grandparent, a parent, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, or a nephew and so on and so forth of whom were an integral part of the Bracero Program; a program spawned with courageous Mexican men who dared the odds to be a part of an American labor program that promised to provide them with better wages that they could not have otherwise earned in their homeland. By all accounts given, these men were seen as nothing more than animals, animals that could pull their own weight on the fields. They were treated like savages and yet they continued on with the struggle knowing that their family’s survival back in Mexico depended on it. Some of these hard laboring men grew fond of the United States, despite the way in which they were treated, and decided to make it their home. The Bracero Program would later serve to be an intricate piece of the Chicano movement, the social integration that took place in border towns such as El Paso, which greatly impacted the establishment of the Chicano neighborhoods into the massive, more prominent Hispanic communities that they are today.
Another intricate piece that should not be forgotten when telling the story of the Bracero Program, lies in one of the most influential Mexican-Americans of all time. On the last week of March, Mexican-Americans all across the United States take time to reflect and celebrate the birth and accomplishments of one of their own, one of the single most renowned Chicano activist of our time, Cesar Chavez, who in his own right, dedicated most of his adult life in protecting the distraught livelihood of the migrant farm worker. It was 1942, the year in which the Bracero Program was brought to the United States, that the Chavez family relocated from Arizona and landed in California. There, in the fields, they would soon share with Mexican migrant laborers the burden of blood, sweat, and backbreaking work, while also being equally discriminated against. Not long after, Cesar Chavez discovered the unpleasant taste of unjust wages, unsafe working conditions, and the disgusting treatment of Mexican-origin people. He would then go on to establish organizations such as the National Farm Workers Association, which fought for the rights of migrant farm workers, workers that included Mexicans in the Bracero Program. Although that is the case, Cesar would later fight to keep this program out of the United States, arguing that the constant inflow of Mexican migrant workers undermined the efforts of his group.
While I deeply resent the fact that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were racially discriminated against and were severely taken advantage of, I cannot but stop and ask myself the following questions: What if America would have not brought this program to our towns? Would our neighborhoods be the same? Would America be the same? Who then, if not Mexicans or other migrant workers for that matter, would have been charged with growing and harvesting our foods while America’s men were out fighting in some of the most gruesome wars of all times? We shouldn’t be so quick into passing judgment, because after all, we are who we are because of the tribulations we have faced and overcome. So in the end, like the title of the exhibition proclaims, it was a bittersweet harvest for both Mexicans and Americans alike.
Jessie Moreno - UTEP student.
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