A Bracero Compares Expectations versus Reality of Life in the United States
José Francisco Delgado Soto traveled extensively around the United States as a bracero. He worked in Michigan, California, Washington, and Texas picking apples, cherries, corn, eggplants, lettuce, pears, pumpkins, and sugar beets. He describes what [...]
A Bracero Describes Work in New Mexico
Braceros who worked close to the Mexican border were sometimes able to go back and forth to see family or enjoy the food and culture of their homeland. Carlos Sánchez Montoya describes such travel from New Mexico, as well as making tortillas for [...]
A Bracero Enters the United States (with text supports)
In this oral history Alvaro Hernandez describes how he entered the United States, first as an illegal worker and then as a bracero. Mr. Hernandez was born in Jilemes, Chihuahua, Mexico. His father was an agricultural worker and his mother was a [...]
A Migrant Worker Describes the Hard Work in the Northwest
The following is an excerpt of an interview with Guadalupe Gamboa conducted by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Gamboa describes the difficult life of migrant farmworkers on the west coast that kept workers isolated and made it difficult [...]
A Worker Recalls Her Time at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
In this oral history conducted by historian Joan Morrison, Pauline Newman told of getting a job at the Triangle Company as a child, soon after arriving in the United States from Lithuania in 1901. Newman described her life as an immigrant and [...]
A War Worker Finds New Independence on the Job
When Los Angeles resident Beatrice Morales Clifton went to work at the Lockheed Aircraft plant in Burbank, California, she was a married mother of four children. In this excerpt from a longer interview, Morales Clifton, the daughter of Mexican [...]
A Bracero Enters the United States
In this oral history Alvaro Hernández describes how he entered the United States, first as an illegal worker and then as a bracero. Mr. Hernández was born in Jilemes, Chihuahua, Mexico. His father was an agricultural worker and his [...]
A Bracero Is Disenchanted With the United States
Despite rumors that braceros would be sent off to fight in World War II, Manuel Sandoval Espino joined the bracero program in 1943. He recalls having to go to the local politician in order to get a pass to join. Mr. Sandoval worked in Kansas as a [...]
A Bracero Protests Low Pay and Discrimination
Although he had received a rare scholarship to attend middle school, Andrés Héctor Quezada Lara dropped out to become a bracero. His work took him to many places in the United States, including South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, [...]
A Bracero Remembers Working Near Chicago
Having heard about successful braceros, Salvador Esparza Carreño decided to enlist in the bracero program in 1945. He worked as a railroad worker, in the fields cutting asparagus, and as a camp cook. He describes his work and leisure time in [...]