The history of migrant farm workers in California has changed extensively over time, especially under the influence of outside factors such as war and the desire to emigrate. Migrant workers, not just farm workers, have been involved in various occupations, from fishing to forestry, yet the agricultural field remains the most common (“Migrant Farm Labor”). Agricultural activities were once performed by Native Americans before Europeans established a colonial presence. During the existence of slavery in the U.S., it is believed by environmental historians that slaves applied their techniques in agriculture to those of American techniques, allowing them to rise against their owners with a better understanding of the landscape of the plantations
In Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, Tomas Almaguer (2009) describes how race and racism coincides to facilitate the birth of white supremacy in California during the late nineteenth century. The idea of racial formation allowed groups to establish their power and privilege over defined racial lines. For each of the three racialized groups presented Chapter one combines the historical and sociological framework to describe the transformation of Mexican California. Through highlighting the historical accounts of racialized groups, fear of potential threats to white workers creates white supremacy. He continues by describing the peopling of Anglo-CA from 1848-1900 with the immigration of Irish, German,
Susan Lee Johnson in her book, Roaring Camp: The Social World of the California Gold Rush, gives a collections of histories of the same event from multiple sources’ perspectives. She does not try to decipher which interpretation or version of events is the accurate one. Johnson believes that the multitude of versions is more telling of the actual themes that were bing played out in this area of the southern mines of California. Johnson tackles issues of labor in these mining camps throughout her book. She pays close attention to the Anglo-American migrants and their disgruntled claims against the system of peonage employed by Sonoran and other Latino patrons.
Indians, blacks, and white Europeans enjoyed significant freedom and autonomy throughout the French occupation of the Gulf region. However, the division of the region between the Spanish and Great Britain greatly altered these cross-culture and interracial interactions and created the beginning of a plantation agriculture economy. He argues that export-directed economy supplanted the frontier exchange economy which negatively changed the social contract between Indians, blacks, and European settlers. The transition from small producers to a full-scale commercialized economy enforced by planters, merchants, and colonial authorities through military use and the law ultimately eliminated the economic autonomy of the regions non-elite; Indians, blacks, and European settlers. The effects of these new economic and social developments consequently restricted blacks to plantation labor, small-scale land owners suffered from the inability to compete with large-scale plantations, and Indians underwent high restrictions and regulated trades with Spain and Great Britain for deer
The Yurok at the mouth of Klamath River made dugout canoes out of redwood logs-crafts of “wonderful symmetry and elegance, (..) The people we call ‘Native Californians’ actually belonged to over five hundred independent tribal groups. Such diversity boggles the modern mind, overtaxing our systems of categorization and
A migrant worker is a person working outside of their home county. Some move from different places doing seasonal work while others remain in one place. Most migrant workers find jobs in the agriculture related industry. The Central Valley in California is home to many migrant families. “Unemployment rates remain high in much of the valley despite strong job growth because of the cyclical nature of employment in one of the valley’s key industries (agriculture)”
These colonies came across numerous hardships with war, famine, and political turmoil, in the 1600’s. These colonies worked for commercial purposes and neglected the need for relationship building with natives, safety, and resource gathering, so much so that they lost many early settlers. Working as an indentured servant was brutal in these colonies. Growing, storing, and packaging tobacco was very labor intensive work. Though indentured servants maintained contracts providing them with food, housing, and clothing, often times terms of service were lengthened.
Throughout the development of the colonies in America, slave trade grew to be a significant source of labor in primarily southern plantations within the late seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. During the era, with slaves being condemned to be considered socially inferior by law, and the increase in demand of goods such as rice and indigo, the slave labor force became a notable source for southern plantations in the eighteenth century. Slaves and people of color had always been considered to be socially inferior even before the colonies existed. With a sense of paternalism in Great Britain, people have always believed that those considered slaves,or servants rather, were second class citizens, and these people needed to be suppressed for their own best interests.
As people began to migrate west to California, “ Californio landowners found themselves struggles to retain their land” ( Competing Vision 139 ). Americans from the east, where land was surveyed
Migrant farmworkers are best defined as those individuals who are employed in agriculture, live in temporary housing, and work on a seasonal basis. Currently, there are 3 million migrant farmworkers living in the United States (Bail et al. 2012). The working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers generate great health risk, that major risk of injuries and to their health include pesticide exposure, injuries, dermatological conditions, and heat strokes. The research conducted 5 in-depth, in- person interviews of those farmworkers living in Georgia in 2010. Farmworkers explained how they felt like invisible members of society, very few people knew where labor camps were located, this was the place of residents for many migrant farmworkers.
Imagine the agonizing task of cutting innumerable acres of tall, strong grass with only a single, giant knife. Envision the back-breaking pain of bending over in the scorching sun for hours and hours to accomplish what is now a simple task. In the past, farm work was extensively different and much more intense than it is today. In the early 1800s, a farmer had to use a scythe to cut the fields. It was terribly tiresome work and took very lengthy amounts of time.
Chinese immigrants, manly single men, came to California with the hope of finding gold. When the amount of gold tapered off some Chinese immigrants obtained enough money to travel back to China, while some stayed in America. Those who stayed in America faced persecution from native Americans as well as European immigrants. The Chinese had to take any job their could get, such as a cook, in order to make money. Nativists resented the Chinese for this because they were taking the true American’s jobs.
California is the “beauty of the eye of the beholder” since all people who come from different background, race, and religion are able to set their own dreams without being criticized. People especially immigrants have viewed California as the “land of opportunity,” which influenced them to leave everything behind in their hometown, to sacrifice their time and to focus on their dreams. Despite the fact that California was lauded as a utopian society, people soon found out that they were going through endeavors and couldn’t overcome them quickly as possible. In fact, Mr. Rawls wanted to express the grievances, struggles, and success that people endure in their rise to the California dream in his short essay, “California: A Place, A People,
It clear that from the time of Junípero Serra until now, outside forces have controlled the past, the present, and the future of the California Native
Without access to an immigrant workforce, many California farmers would have trouble harvesting their crops. The people believe that California can best determine who is a threat to the state and who is
During the time period of 1750 to 1900, the evolution of labor systems in Latin America and the Caribbean’s, changed in regards to the nature of the labor system, but remained the same when it came to the group of individuals, of whom partook in this labor system, and their place in society. In the beginning of this time period, slavery thrived in Latin Americas and the Caribbean’s, specifically on plantations, examples include in cotton and sugar fields. in Brazil and Haiti. The individuals that partook in this slave trade, also referred to as the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, would be the captured Africans. Their role in the trade network, and as people never changed.