The Mexican American Experience, a radio program produced by the Longhorn Radio Network, includes interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns. Program summary: Richard Goodman discusses the impact of the Bracero program on farmworker politics in the United States. Goodman discusses the Bracero Program and its effects on Mexican Americans. Facing a growing labor shortage during World War II, the U.S. government established the Bracero Program, which permitted a designated number of Mexicans to enter the U.S. to work for a certain period of time. The Mexican government agreed to the program, provided that the United States adhere to certain guidelines that would protect the workers from discrimination and mistreatment. From 1942 to 1947, over 200,000 workers entered into the United States, many through screening and recruiting centers the Mexican government set up throughout Mexico. Under the direction of the War Food Administration, the program often failed to live up to its provisions, including the wage guarantees the Mexican government had demanded. At the end of World War II, the Department of Labor took over the administration of the program and negotiated its continuation. In doing so, the U.S. government acted as a labor contractor for the growers, and Mexican workers continued entering into the United States without the rights guaranteed to other immigrants and citizens. Growers often used the braceros to break strikes, depress wages and block organizing. Chicanos opposed the program because of the exploitation it engendered and worked to organize the farm workers. Under growing pressure from the AFL-CIO, civil rights organizations and the general public, Congress ended the program in 1963. Keywords: Agribusiness, Aguascalientes, Border, Border Patrol, Bracero Program, Bureau of Employment Security, California, Chicano Resistance, Chihuahua, Department of Agriculture, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor, Ernesto Galarza, Farm Security Administration, Farmers, Guadalajara, Guest Worker Programs, Guest Workers, Hermosillo, Illegal Alien, Imperial Valley, Labor, Labor Shortage, Merchants of Labor: the Mexican Bracero Story, Mexican Bureau of Migrant Labor, Mexican Government, Michigan, Minnesota, Monterrey, Occupied America, Open border, Public Law 78, Rodolfo Acuña, Rural, Screening Centers, Strikebreaker, Tampico, Texas, Undocumented Workers, Unions, Urban Migration, War Food Administration, War Manpower commission, Wetbacks, World War II, Zacatecas. Broadcast date: 1977-01-28. An ethnic slur is used in this program around 4:00.
Creator/Contributor:
Longhorn Radio Network (creator) and Goodman, Richard (host)
Date Created/Date Issued:
1/28/1977
Owning Repository:
Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin