Colonial Migrants at the Heart of Empire: Puerto Rican Workers on U.S. FarmsColonial Migrants at the Heart of Empire is the first in-depth look at the experiences of Puerto Rican migrant workers in continental U.S. agriculture in the twentieth century. The Farm Labor Program, established by the government of Puerto Rico in 1947, placed hundreds of thousands of migrant workers on U.S. farms and fostered the emergence of many stateside Puerto Rican communities. Ismael García-Colón investigates the origins and development of this program and uncovers the unique challenges faced by its participants. A labor history and an ethnography, Colonial Migrants evokes the violence, fieldwork, food, lodging, surveillance, and coercion that these workers experienced on farms and conveys their hopes and struggles to overcome poverty. Island farmworkers encountered a unique form of prejudice and racism arising from their dual status as both U.S. citizens and as “foreign others,” and their experiences were further shaped by evolving immigration policies. Despite these challenges, many Puerto Rican farmworkers ultimately chose to settle in rural U.S. communities, contributing to the production of food and the Latinization of the U.S. farm labor force. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Puerto Rican migrant contract workers on U S farms | 4 |
Farmworkers being recruited by the Puerto Rico Department of Labor | 88 |
Richard Cartright and migrant workers in an English class | 90 |
Chartered flight with Puerto Rican migrant farmworkers | 95 |
Palla Afuera and the Life Experiences of Migrants | 105 |
Puerto Rican migrant farmworkers disembarking in Buffalo | 112 |
Eulalio Torres greeting migrant farmworkers | 113 |
Jaime Quiñones distributing letters to workers | 141 |
Gov Luis Muñoz Marín playing baseball with migrant workers | 143 |
Migrants working in the fields | 150 |
Gov Luis Muñoz Marín with officials inspecting food at a camp | 153 |
Puerto Rican officials with farmworkers in a dining hall | 154 |
Workers harvesting peaches | 190 |
Worker picking peaches | 210 |
Farmworkers being transported | 220 |
Labor Camps as Prisons in the Fields | 131 |
Glassboro labor camp in New Jersey | 137 |
Puerto Rican farmworkers barracks | 138 |
Sleeping quarters for Puerto Rican workers | 140 |
Notes | 231 |
References | 237 |