On the Border: 

Mexican Children and Migrant Farming During the 1930’s

Joan Stewart

PS/MS 123

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfEtO00DSvI

 

 

Introduction

STEP 1:  

Mexican Immigrants to the United States during the 1930’s and 1930’s faced many economic and social difficulties. (AHPPA Step 1)

During the 20th century, Hispanic Americans — the majority of whom were Mexican Americans — comprised the largest minority group in California. One-half million Mexicans migrated to the United States during the 1920s, with more than 30 percent settling in California.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, racial anxieties ran high. Mexicans in California and other states were seen as competition for already scarce jobs. Various civic organizations and chambers of commerce successfully pressed local, county, and state governments to round up Mexican Americans indiscriminately (citizens and non-citizens alike) and "repatriate" them to Mexico.

http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/ethnic_groups/subtopic3b.html

 

Step 2:

Examine the Evidence (AHPPA Step 2)

·        Why did these policies exist?

·        Do similar policies exist today?

 

 

Step 3: (AHPPA Step 3)

Identify some of the contributing factors to the lack of rights for Mexican migrant workers during the 1930’s and 1940’s.

Step 4: (AHPPA Step 4)

Examine today’s policies toward Mexican migrant workers, have they changed? Explain why or why not.

 

 

TASK:   

You are a Mexican child who was forced to leave your home in Mexico and your entire family when you were 12 to work in the lettuce fields of California.  This situation shifted in the early 1940s. World War II brought a labor shortage as American workers joined the armed forces. In 1942, Congress enacted the Emergency Labor Program — called the Bracero Program (brazos is the Spanish word for arms.)

During the 22 years of the Bracero Program, more than 4 million Mexican children and workers left their families behind and came to work in the fields of California. Discuss the enormous and lasting impact on both California and Mexico’s economy and demographics.

 

 

Process (Resources): 

1.  Divide students into six teams. Have each team research the history of Mexican child immigration from the following groups' perspectives (make sure students distinguish between Mexicans (citizens of Mexico) and Mexican Americans (citizens of the United States): 

·                                 Mexican business owners

·                                 Mexican Americans living at or below the poverty line

·                                 European American business owners

·                                 U.S. government

·                                 Mexican American workers

·                                 European working-class Americans

·                                 Mexican people searching for work

2.     Explain to students that each team should find answers to the following questions for each group perspective:

·                                 What were your group's economic needs?

·                                 How did your group view each of the other groups?

·                                 What was your group doing during the time periods 1845-1850; 1850-1900; 1900-1924; 1924-1930; 1930-1947; 1947-1965; 1965-1980; and 1980-present? Discuss sources of information; you may wish to locate sources yourself and make them available to students.

3.     Assist students as needed while they complete their research.

4.     Have the class debate the following question: Should the United States further restrict immigration of Mexican workers into the country? Students should debate the question first from the perspective of the group they represent and then from their own perspectives.

5.     Ask students which groups' perspectives and experiences were the most difficult to locate and least publicized and whose were easiest to locate and best publicized. Lead them to recognize the control of information can influence public opinion and distort the average person's understanding of history.

 

The 4 Steps of the American History Public Policy Analyst (AHPPA)

1.     Define the Problem

2.     Gather the Evidence

3.     Identify the Causes

4.     Evaluate the Policy

(Optional Step)  Do a Comparative Analysis of the Policy

 

Lesson Plan: Children in the Fields

The Life of the Hispanic Child Laborer During California's Agriculture Explosion

http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/lesson_plans/lesson-plan-child.html

 

Worksheet #2 Photographic Analysis

Library of Congress Photograph Analysis Worksheet

National Archives Photo Analysis Worksheet

International Initiative to End Child Labor http://endchildlabor.org/?page_id=144

 

Video:  Fingers To The Bone:  Child Farmworkers in the United States

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfEtO00DSvI

 

 

Evaluation: 

PowerPoint Rubric

https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/pptrubric.html

Presentation Rubric

http://www.schrockguide.net/uploads/3/9/2/2/392267/3_5.jpg

Team Collaboration Rubric

https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/elemteamworkrubric

 

 

Conclusion: 

·                     Assess each student's understanding of the group he or she represented through oral contributions to the mural.

·                     Assess students' understanding of U.S. history and policy and of the actions and perspectives of different groups through a quiz.

·                     Assess students' skills at locating information through their oral contributions to the mural.

·                     Assess students' development of personal perspectives through the class debate.

 

 

Standards:

Key Ideas and Details:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).