We Grew the Food You Ate… And Our Work Made You Rich

Abstract

More than anything else, the history of Mexican immigration in the United States is a history of exploitation by corporations, agriculturists and the United States government of one group of people. Largely unskilled men, women and children created the cheap labor pool sought by U.S. growers to plant and harvest the various crops. Consideration will be given to the importing of Mexican nationals and Mexican-American citizens from the Southwest to work in the sugar beet fields of Michigan. The position occupied by these Mexican-American citizens and Mexican nationals in U.S. agriculture will also be discussed.