Migrant Farm Workers
Cultural Activities Project – Part III
I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between the United States and Mexico. This Treaty gained the United States more than half a million square miles of former Mexican territory. It also forfeited more than seventy-five thousand former Mexican citizens to the United States. The Treaty articles implied there would be full United States citizenship and continued land ownership for Mexican residents who now found themselves and their property within the boundaries of the United States. This turned out not to be true and was one of the first exploitations and acts of discrimination of Mexican …show more content…
Exploitation was evident in a variety of ways, “they had to cope with rancid food that was deducted from wages and the illegal deductions of wages for blankets and work supplies” that were supposed to be supplied to them free of charge. (Mize, Jr., 2006) The Bracero Accord spelled out the financial agreement; however, most of the United States employers did not honor this arraignment. Deductions varied from paycheck to paycheck considerably and the explanation for the deductions from the employer was, “no recuerdo”. Salary deductions were also, “charged for tools and twist ties used in banding carrots together” (Mize, Jr., 2006). The Bracero was exempt from minimum wage and after deductions, in order to make a living wage they had to work more than fifteen hours a day, seven days a week. (Mize, Jr., …show more content…
School is a challenge for non-English speaking children of migrant workers and for migrant workers themselves. “Children are being assigned to “special education” classes, or being placed in a lower level grade” (Parra-Cardona, Bulock, Imig, Villarruel, & Gold, 2006) because there are not enough bilingual teachers in our educational systems. When migrant farm workers must relocate many times during a school semester for employment, their children are forced to changed schools. Often with English as a second language, the children of migrant workers fall farther and farther behind in their education and many are ultimately forced to leave school and join their parents in the fields. (Parra-Cardona, Bulock, Imig, Villarruel, & Gold,