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Bracero program supplies labor during World War II
On this day in 1942, the United States government signed the Mexican
Farm Labor Program Agreement with Mexico. Managed by several government
agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, as a temporary,
war-related measure to supply much-needed workers during the early years
of World War II, the bracero (Spanish for "arm-man," or manual laborer)
program continued uninterrupted until 1964. The agreement guaranteed a
minimum wage of thirty cents an hour and humane treatment of Mexican
farmworkers in the United States. During the first five years of the
program, Texas farmers chose not to participate in the restrictive
accord, opting to hire farmworkers directly from Mexico who entered the
United State illegally. The abundant supply of labor brought into the
United States legally finally enticed Texans to participate fully in the
program. More than 4.5 million entered the United States during the
twenty-two years of the program. Most never returned. Mexican
agricultural workers, considered an unlimited supply of cheap labor,
have been pawns to a host of economic, political, social, and
humanitarian interests. Journalists such as Pauline Kibbe documented how
poor wages, lack of educational opportunities for the children,
malnutrition, poor sanitation, and discrimination have contributed to
continued tension between Texas growers and migrant laborers and the
federal government. Migrant workers have nonetheless continued to walk
to the United States, legally or illegally.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- BRACERO PROGRAM
- OPERATION WETBACK
- UNITED STATES BORDER PATROL
- KIBBE, PAULINE ROCHESTER
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Stevenson becomes governor of Texas as O'Daniel departs for U.S. Senate (1941)
- Texas Revolution participant marries future memoirist (1836)
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