Bittersweet Harvest, a moving bilingual exhibition organized by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) and circulated by SITES, examines the experiences of bracero workers and their families, providing rich insight into Mexican American history and useful context to today’s debates on guest worker programs. The exhibition combines recent scholarship, powerful photographs from the 1950s from the Smithsonian‘s collection, and audio excerpts from oral histories contributed by former contract workers and their families.
Begun in 1942 as a temporary war measure to address short-term labor needs, the Mexican Agricultural Labor Program, otherwise known as the bracero program, eventually became the largest guest worker program in U.S. history. Small farmers, large growers, and farm associations in California, Texas, and some 25 other states hired Mexican braceros to provide manpower during peak harvest and cultivation times. By the time the program was canceled in 1964, an estimated 4.6 million contracts had been awarded.
The bracero program was controversial in its time. Mexican nationals, eager for work, were willing to take harsh jobs at wages scorned by most Americans. Farm workers already living in the U.S. worried that braceros would compete for jobs and drive down wages. “The braceros experienced exploitation but also opportunity,” says NMAH curator Peter Liebold. “The work was grueling, the time spent away from home difficult, but the opportunity to earn money was real. The program was truly bittersweet.”
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