Bracero program

The bracero program was when Mexico agreed to send agricultural workers to the Southwest to work in the United States from 1947 to 1949. An estimated of 142,000 workers “provided a source of cheap, unorganized labor.” The workers were paid low wages, had terrible living conditions and their children received no education. This program was ended in 1964. While reading the article about the Bracero program, I was reminded of slavery. Slaves came here to work in the fields for very little money, had lived in horrible conditions and if they had children, they were not allowed to go to school. Slavery was an awful part of history and I don’t know if Mexicans were treated as badly as them. At the same time, both groups of people were only trying to better themselves. Blacks worked to buy their freedom while the Mexicans worked to get more than they had in Mexico. In Spanish class, we read Cajas de Corton (which means cardboard boxes) by Francisco Jiménez which is about a family who came to the United States from Mexico to work in agriculture. Each season had a different harvest so they would have to move to a different plantation each time. The boy recalls living in a home with mud floors and having mainly everything they owned in the car. The brother who was 16 wanted to go to school but couldn’t because he had to work with this mom and dad. The main character went to school not knowing English. He would be at school and not understand anything that was happening. What I read in the book, I connected to the bracero program.

"bracero program." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .