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Genre/Form: | Electronic books History |
---|---|
Additional Physical Format: | Print version: Bracero railroaders Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2016] (DLC) 2016007087 |
Material Type: | Biography, Document, Internet resource |
Document Type: | Internet Resource, Computer File |
All Authors / Contributors: |
Erasmo Gamboa |
ISBN: | 9780295998312 0295998318 |
OCLC Number: | 965135025 |
Description: | 1 online resource (xi, 236 pages) |
Contents: | Labor and the railroad industry before World War II -- The Great Depression, deportations, and recovery -- We will need the Mexicans back -- Railroad track workers needed; where are the domestic laborers? -- Bracero railroaders, "soldiers of democracy" -- Contractual promises to keep -- The perils of being a bracero -- The deception further exposed -- Split families: repercussions at home and away -- Victory and going home -- Forgotten railroad soldiers -- Epilogue. |
Other Titles: | Forgotten World War II story of Mexican workers in the U.S. West |
Responsibility: | Erasmo Gamboa. |
Abstract:
Desperate for laborers to keep the trains moving during World War II, the U.S. and Mexican governments created a now mostly forgotten bracero railroad program that sent a hundred thousand Mexican workers across the border to build and maintain railroad lines throughout the United States, particularly the West. Although both governments promised the workers adequate living arrangements and fair working conditions, most bracero railroaders lived in squalor, worked dangerous jobs, and were subject to harsh racial discrimination. Making matters worse, the governments held a percentage of the workers' earnings in a savings and retirement program that supposedly would await the men on their return to Mexico. However, rampant corruption within both the railroad companies and the Mexican banks meant that most workers were unable to collect what was rightfully theirs. Historian Erasmo Gamboa recounts the difficult conditions, systemic racism, and decades-long quest for justice these men faced. The result is a pathbreaking examination that deepens our understanding of Mexican American, immigration, and labor histories in the twentieth-century U.S. West.
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Related Subjects:(32)
- Foreign workers, Mexican -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
- Railroads -- United States -- Employees -- History -- 20th century.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Manpower -- United States.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- War work -- United States.
- Railroads -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
- United States -- Emigration and immigration -- Government policy -- History -- 20th century.
- Mexico -- Emigration and immigration -- Government policy -- History -- 20th century.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Mexican American.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Economic aspects -- United States.
- Railroads -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 20th century.
- Travailleurs étrangers mexicains -- États-Unis -- Histoire -- 20e siècle.
- Travailleurs des chemins de fer -- États-Unis -- Histoire -- 20e siècle.
- Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945 -- Main-d'œuvre -- États-Unis.
- Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945 -- Participation des civils -- États-Unis.
- Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945 -- Aspect économique -- États-Unis.
- railroads (infrastructure)
- world wars.
- migration (function)
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Labor.
- POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Labor & Industrial Relations.
- HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- Pacific Northwest (OR, Wash.)
- Economics.
- Emigration and immigration -- Government policy.
- Foreign workers, Mexican.
- Manpower.
- Military participation -- Mexican American.
- Railroads.
- Railroads -- Employees.
- War work.
- Mexico.
- United States.
- West United States.
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- Latinidad en Estados Unidos(147 items)
by schusterp updated 2022-02-01