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Introduction to Migratory Farm Labor

Learn about the challenges faced by migrant farm laborers in the late 1940s and early 1950s in the United States, and how the government intervened to improve living conditions and regulate labor practices.

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Introduction to Migratory Farm Labor

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  1. Introduction to Migratory Farm Labor 1948-1952

  2. What is migrant farm labor? • Migrant farm laborers are people who travel to a location where there is a job available. After the work is finished (usually a planting/harvest season), the migrant farm laborer returns to their home. (This is usually a different country).

  3. What problems existed? • Migrant farm workers and their families were not always legal. • Wages dropped, American workers could not make a living. • Small farm owners could not compete with large farm owners who employed cheap labor. • Labor shortages existed on farms. Farmers needed employees to plant and harvest crops. • Living conditions for migrant workers were deplorable. Poor food and medical care were provided.

  4. Migrant Laborer Conditions

  5. Migrant Laborer Conditions

  6. Shack located on farm were a migrant worker lived.

  7. How did the US government solve this problem? • Investigations of living conditions were conducted to solve farm based problems for workers and their families who lived with them on the farms. • Deportation of illegal immigrants started. 127,000 illegal immigrants were formerly deported, 3.2 million volunteered to leave (according to factcheck.org) • President Truman approved legislation to allow the flow of legal Mexican migrant workers to come to US to work.

  8. President Truman at Migratory Labor Commission

  9. Legislation process • From 1948-1950 small farmers, large farm owners, and worker’s unions petitioned President Truman to solve the migrant farm labor issue. • June 3, 1950: Presidential Commission was held to listen to information. • July 13, 1951: Legislation approved

  10. What was the result? • Legislation was signed that allowed an agreement with Mexico to be made. This allowed legal migrant workers from Mexico to come to the United States to work. • This law had to be renewed every two years until it became unpopular in the 1960s.

  11. Does the problem still exist? • The United States has dealt with illegal immigration for decades. The problem has increased over the years with an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now working in the US compared to 3 million in the late 1940s, early 1950s.

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