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Great depression immigrant workers
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Mexican laborers during great depression essay
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Picture yourself living in a chicken coop and picking crops all day just to receive a measly one dollar per day in wages. This is how everyday life was for the Mexico native immigrants in the U.S. during The Great Depression. During The Great Depression migrant workers had to face many unfair trials. One of the many trials that migrant workers faced were the conditions they had to live in. They sometimes had to stay in barns or chicken coops because sometimes the farm owners just didn’t care or they did not have enough money (“The Harvest Gypsies”). They also had to sleep in one room and one story shacks that had no plumbing or electricity and basically had to pay half their daily wages just to stay there (“ Depression Era: 1930s: Repatriation
... many immigrants faced discrimination, thus leaving them no choice but to live in the slums of some areas and try fight their way up to success.
In the Roaring Twenties, people started buying household materials and stocks that they could not pay for in credit. Farmers, textile workers, and miners all got low wages. In 1929, the stock market crashed. All of these events started the Great Depression. During the beginning of the Great Depression, 9000 banks were closed, ending nine million savings accounts. This lead to the closing of eighty-six thousand businesses, a European depression, an overproduction of food, and a lowering of prices. It also led to more people going hungry, more homeless people, and much lower job wages. There was a 28% increase in the amount of homeless people from 1929 to 1933. And in the midst of the beginning of the Great Depression, President Hoover did nothing to improve the condition of the nation. In 1932, people decided that America needed a change. For the first time in twelve years, they elected a democratic president, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Immediately he began to work on fixing the American economy. He closed all banks and began a series of laws called the New Laws. L...
Before the strike for higher wages began, migrant workers worked in very horrible conditions. Men, women, and children would work on these farms for only a dollar an hour. The
More and more health-conscious individuals are scrutinizing the source of the food their family consumes. However, even the most conscientious consumer is not fully aware of the exhaustive efforts and struggle to get a juicy, ripe strawberry or that plump tomato in the middle of winter, even in Florida. These foods are harvested and picked mostly by seasonal and migrant farm workers. Migrant workers hail, in large part, from Mexico and the Caribbean, and their families often travel with them. Migrant farm workers must endure challenging conditions so that Americans can have the beautiful selection of berries, tomatoes, and other fresh foods often found at places like a farmer’s market or a traditional super market. Seasonal and migrant farm workers suffer a variety of health problems as a result of their constant exposure to stress, the elements, and chemicals such as pesticides. They are paid minimal wages and are expected to work long hours of strenuous labor for pennies on the dollar per piece or per hour. The migrant families are expected to live in substandard quarters and transported to various work sites in unsafe transportation. The fresh fruits and vegetables consumers purchase with little thought reach supermarkets at a cost that is not reflected in the retail price. This cost is ultimately absorbed by farm workers in Florida and other areas throughout the country, who are among the poorest of American workers.
Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America. They could speak their own language and act as if they were in their own country. Within these neighborhoods, immigrants suffered crowded conditions. These were often called slums, yet they became ghettos when laws, prejudice and community pressure prevented inhabitants from renting elsewhere. Health conditions were terrible in these districts.
Conditions included horrible housing, taking women away from their husbands, and punishments including death. Several rules had to be followed. One of these rules was that the workers had to buy all supplies from one store. “In this store we were charged all sorts of high prices for goods, because every year we would come out in debt to out employer” (25). Ending the year in debt meant owing the contract holder something. Since they had no money, they were forced to pay with their hard labor.
But this was a hard task. And in less than months ,weeks, days or hours, many Americans were broke. This trouble caused hunger ,crop prices to lower, and little to no education for students. It also created dust ,new laws ,working with what you had, and lots of terror across the US. Many lost their jobs and tried to look for work. But it was very scarce to find. In 1933 the lowest unemployment rate was recorded at 15%.
While many remember the Great Depression as a time of terrible trials for Americans, few understand the hardships faced by Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the U.S. This paper examines the experiences of Mexicans in America during the Great Depression and explores the devastating impact of repatriation efforts. America has an extensive history of accepting Mexican workers when they are needed for cheap labor, and demanding that they be deported when the economic situation is more precarious in an attempt to open jobs for Americans. In the 1930s, “Americans, reeling from the economic disorientation of the depression, sought a convenient scapegoat. They found it in the Mexican community.” Mexicans were blamed for economic hardships and pushed to leave the United States because Americans believed they were taking jobs and draining charitable resources; however, few understood the negative repercussions of these actions. During the Great Depression, the push to strip jobs from Mexicans and repatriate them had the unintended consequences of adding more people to welfare rolls, contributed to labor shortages and forced out legal citizens of Mexican descent which created feelings of bitterness and rejection.
The Mexican Migrant Farm Workers’ community formed in Southern California in the 20th century because of two factors that came together: farming emphasized by migrations like the Okie farmers from the East and Mexicans “imported” to the U.S. because of the need for cheap labor as a replacement of Americans during World War II. The migrant labor group formed after an already similar group in the U.S had been established in California, the American farm workers from the East, known as the Okies. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s caused the movement of the Okies to the West and was followed by the transition from American dominant farm labor to Mexican migrant labor. The Okies reinforced farming in California through the skills they took with them, significant to the time period that Mexicans arrived to California in greater numbers. However, the community was heightened by World War II from 1939 to 1945, which brought in immigrants to replace Americans that left to fight in the battlefields. Robin A. Fanslow, archivist at the Library of Congress, argues that because of World War II, “those who were left behind took advantage of the job opportunities that had become available in [the] West Coast” (Fanslow). Although some Mexican migrants already lived in the U.S prior to this event, a vast majority arrived at the fields of California specifically to work as farmers through the Bracero Program, created because of the Second World War. Why the Second World War and not the First World War? WWII urgently demanded labor and Mexico was the United States’ closest resource. Although WWI also caused the U.S. to have a shortage of labor; at the time, other minorities dominated, like the Chinese and Japanese.
The United States cannot afford to lose the economic gains that come from immigrant labor. The economy would be suffering a greater loss if it weren’t for immigrants and their labor contributions, especially during the 2008 U.S. recession. The U.S. economy would most likely worsen if it weren’t for the strong labor force immigrants have provided this country. Despite the mostly negative views native-born Americans have towards immigrants and the economy, their strong representation in the labor forces continues today. Immigrants aren’t taking “American” jobs, they are taking the jobs that Americans don’t want (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Immigrants contribute to various aspects of the economy, including brining valuable skills to their jobs, contributing to the cost of living through taxes, and the lacked use of welfare, healthcare, and social security when compared to native-born Americans, showing that the United States cannot afford to lose the contribution immigrants bring into the economy.
The conditions they lived in were horrible, and their treatment was brutal (Boston; Conditions). The first differentiating living conditions would be the housing.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The squatters’ in the 1930s undoubtedly dealt with many hardships. A lot of the misfortunes that they faced were due to their unpleasant lifestyle. Therefore, the problems that they faced as the effects of their lifestyle at their homes were much greater. In fact, they added even more stress and struggle to their lives. The lifestyle in squatters’ camps caused many negative effects for everyone who came into contact with them, and damaged their minds and bodies. These negative effects were caused by many things including an absence of adequate housing, lack of sanitation, ceaseless responsibilities, and malnutrition.
Migrant workers have the stereotype of hard workers that are desperate for money. They are usually not very well educated. Most of them were strong but some weren't. Take Lennie and George for example. George wasn't very strong but was smart and Lennie was strong but dumb as a fence post. Like Lennie and George, all migrant workers wanted their own land to farm. They had few possessions and were independent. The workers liked to cuss a lot, get drunk on Friday nights, and were usually very poor.
During the 1930’s the Stock Market crashed causing millions of people to go unemployed putting most people in extreme poverty or homeless. This has made life for teenagers difficult as they do not have the same entertainment teenagers have today. Music was a luxury to those who had a radio or access to instruments. A bunch of teens left their homes in search for jobs. For the exception of the rich, food was very hard to come by and they were hungry most of the time. Teens in during the Great Depression had a much harder time than most teens today.
These tenements lacked in many ways, including space and sanitation. Due to the packed conditions, diseases spread rapidly. Overall, the housing of the working class was unpleasant and many fell ill to diseases because the risk of developing a disease in a cramped environment was higher. In Document 2, it is evident that the tenements were not an ideal living space. Document 6 portrays that factories were ideally designed for the machines and not for the workers, and as a result the working conditions were also harsh.