More than four million Mexicans came to the US from 1942 to 1964 to participate in the Bracero Program, which was established by the Mexican Farm Labor Program. The program was intended to help with the World War II labor shortage in agriculture. El Paso was the recruitment center for the program. This display is based on posters from the Smithsonian Institution along with some background research and photos and artifacts from the Bracero History Archive.
Map from the Smithsonian Institute showing which Mexican states sent braceros and which US states hired braceros during the run of the program.
Texas did not participate during the first five years of the program. However, Texas farmers saw the supply of laborers available and started hiring braceros. At the peak of bracero employment in 1959, half of the 275,000 registered braceros in the US were in Texas to harvest cotton. (https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/mexican-braceros-and-us-farm-workers)
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