ARIZONA MIGRANT WORKERS - 1950

 (Arizona Migrant Workers) An archive of 14 photos (1 duplicate) of Arizona migrant farm workers dating from 1950. Evidently it was reported in 1950 that from this camp just fourteen miles west of Phoenix, that children were reported as starving. In March of 1950, Juvenile Court Judge Thomas Croaff reported that 100 children were starving at the camp and thus his remarks drew press coverage and state aid.

The photographs show the workers and their families in camp. One shows a Creek family playing outside at the camp, with several camp structures shown in the background. Several show a nearby store offering aid to children from the camp. Though the judge’s decision helped alleviate the situation in this instance, there were many other labor camps in similar situations, with Governor Dan Garvey calling attention to similar migrant farm worker camps in Mesa, Bisbee, and Pinal counties.

While the plight of migrant farm workers was documented to a degree in the 1930s, poor conditions persisted into the 1940s and 1950s onward, partially due to the government’s misuse of the Bracero program. The Bracero Program operated as a joint program under the State Department, the Department of Labor, and the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) in the Department of Justice. Under this pact, the laborers were promised decent living conditions in labor camps, such as adequate shelter, food and sanitation, as well as a minimum wage pay of 30 cents an hour. The agreement also stated that braceros would not be subject to discrimination such as exclusion from "white" areas. Camps such as the one shown in this series were rarely documented, partially due to their geographical remoteness and largely due to neglect and lack of political support for migrant workers.

Los Angeles, 1950. Silver press prints with images measuring roughly 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches. Great contrast, editorial marks on the backs and photo descriptions typed on front. Overall in vg cond.