Intro to Labor

Overview

Latinos, born in the U.S. and immigrants, are the backbone of our country, as they have contributed to its economic wealth and prosperity. They are the primary group that feeds America. However, they are often discriminated against and have received harsh scrutiny on numerous accounts. Undocumented labor workers also receive minimal to no protection or rights. We need to begin an initiative to become educated on Latinos’ integral role in our society–how they impact our daily lives, boost our economy, and create a culturally rich, diverse, and talented populace. More importantly, we must understand and comprehend the minimal rights that such an underrepresented group needs.

With the ultimate goal of understanding their struggle, hard work, and achievements under seemingly impossible odds, we can create a more open-minded, just, and inclusive future and healthier country. We acknowledge that Latinos are the foundation of our nation. They work as farmers, cleaners, lawyers, medical professionals, nurses, waiters, cashiers, and many more occupations.

We also acknowledge that different individuals have different perspectives on them as a result of myths that characterize them as criminals, a burden on the system, and ironically—those who steal American jobs. More than anything, we want to highlight the strength of Latinos in the United States. This is just one lens to view the challenges they overcome, yet their resilience is undeniable. Latino workers have proven to be essential(Reflection on Essential Workers - pandemics, healthcare, construction). All of America should value them as critical contributors to the US and defend them against racial profiling and discrimination. We can all take something from understanding their narratives and recognizing just how far the Latinos go to impact our country.

Takeaways

  • Recognize that Latino labor is the backbone of the United States, by both fueling the economy and allowing Americans to eat cheaply, buy inexpensively constructed homes, buy inexpensive products that have been assembled on both sides of the border, and enjoy beautiful landscaping. The U.S Latino workforce includes doctors, nurses, lawyers, agency directors, educators, and law enforcement officers.

 

  • Understand the Latino labor movement’s purpose, length, key figures, and effect to ultimately acknowledge how Latinos themselves fought for and earned their rights to be treated as valuable American workers.

 

  • Develop the knowledge to support the argument that since Latino labor is crucial for a thriving economy, and it impacts the daily lives of all Americans, it is our responsibility to dismantle myths regarding their merited place in society and end racist sentiment.

 

  • Explore new narratives pertaining to Latino labor to broaden awareness on what it truly means to be a Latino labor worker in America. Through personal stories and testimonies, we will see a new and important side to the legacy Latino laborers leave behind and continue to make in the United States.

Topics

The Bracero Program

Focus: Examining the Bracero Program's impact on segregation, labor, immigration and the contributions of Mexican and Mexican Americans to the United States.

Perspective: First hand from Latinos participants of the Bracero Program.

Focus: Learn about shade tobacco, Jamaican labor, and Puerto Rican Labor

Perspective:

Latino Essential Workers

Focus:

Perspective:

Recommended Books

Book Cover: Stef Soto Taco Queen

By: Jennifer Torres

Book Cover: Gathering the Sun (An alphabet in Spanish and English)

By: Alma Flor Ada

Book Cover: Y no se lo trago la tierra… And the Earth did not devour him

By: Thomas Rivera

Book Cover: A profile of a United Farm Worker

By: Gary Soto