Daily Life

Overview

Despite challenging conditions and constraints men in the Bracero program also also built solidarity and community in the labor camps. The labor camps were isolated geographically, and the men worked long hours that made it difficult to interact with people outside the camps. The photographs below show Braceros cooking tortillas, playing cards, and dancing in a restaurant with a live band.

Questions

How might being isolated and separated from their families have impacted Braceros well-being?
How might men in the Bracero program have built connections and community?

Color photograph of a smiling man wearing a white shirt and apron running dough through a tortilla press.

Color photograph of men crowded onto a cot playing cards and smiling

Color photograph of a band and a man in a hat dancing with a beer in a bar

Cook making tortillas for bracero workers Links to an external site., Henry Pope Anderson Papers, larc.ms.0422, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Bracero workers play cards on bunk in labor camp housing barrack Links to an external site., Henry Pope Anderson Papers, larc.ms.0422, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Nightlight scene with band playing in front of restaurant booths Links to an external site., Henry Pope Anderson Papers, larc.ms.0422, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.