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It was World War II, indirectly, that brought large numbers of Mexican workers north to harvest California crops, in a government-sanctioned Bracero program. Sonoma County was an early and active participant in that program, as a new exhibit at the Sonoma County Museum documents.
Under the terms of the agreement with the ranchers who hired them, Bracero workers were due food, shelter, and other benefits. This was a commitment that most Sonoma ranchers took to heart, perhaps more so than their counterparts in the Central Valley. In his account of his arrival at the Grace Brothers Ranch here, worker Rafael Morales recounts being surprised by the hospitality with which he was received.
The exhibit, "Bittersweet Harvest: Braceros Program," is now open at the Sonoma County Museum and continues through January 30, 2011. (For dates and hours, click here.) This is how they introduce it:
Facing labor shortages on the home front during World War II, in 1942 President Roosevelt created what would become the largest guest-worker program in U.S. history. Bittersweet Harvest, a bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibition from the Smithsonian, explores the little-known story of the Bracero program. Between 1942 and 1964, millions of Mexican men came to the United States on short-term labor contracts. Featuring photographs by famed photojournalist Leonard Nadel [including those on this page], oral histories and other materials, the exhibition examines the experiences of Bracero workers and their families, providing rich insight into Mexican-American history, and historical background to today's debates on guest-worker programs.
