Lesson Plan

Lesson 1: The Bracero Program

Teacher instructions and The Bracero Program Lesson Plan and UbD will help you get started on context, objectives, and EQs.

Focus: Established in 1942, the Bracero program allowed millions of Mexican men to work in the U.S. Legally. Under short contracts, these men were hired to fix the agricultural labor shortage in the U.S. and promised to receive fair wages/protection from discrimination. However, their story is far from the picture painted by their employers, and their legacy has long been forgotten.

Student Activities

What is the Bracero Program? 

• Activity 1: Bracero Crash Course 
• Activity 2: Analyzing Photographs of Braceros 

 

Related Lesson Plans/Activities

• Chris and Jardinu Lesson Plan: Lesson plan created  by two students from the UConn LLAS 2012: Latinos in Connecticut: Writing for the Community class.  

• https://www.unco.edu/colorado-oral-history-migratory-labor-project/pdf/Bracero_Program_PowerPoint.pdf : PowerPoint created by the University of Northern Colorado with an overview history of the Bracero Program  

•  Braceros in History and Song: In this activity students write original corridos (a type of Mexican folk song) based on the oral histories of braceros. Before writing their own corridos, students learn about the formulas and themes of corridos and analyze a World War II-era corrido. This lesson works best if students have basic background information on the bracero program. 

• https://braceroarchive.org/teaching 

Extra Resources

Relevant scholarship 

• Mize, Ronald L., And Alicia C. S. Swords. Consuming Mexican Labor: From the Bracero Program to NAFTA. University of Toronto Press, 2011. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt2ttpgc. Accessed 4 Oct. 2022. Snodgrass, Michael. Beyond la Frontera: the History of Mexico-U.S. Migration: The Bracero Program, 1942–1964. Edited by Mark Overmyer-Velazquez. Oxford University Press, 2011. Alexander Street, https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C3233544.  

Oral Histories And Photographs 

• https://braceroarchive.org/items/browse (oral histories): They also have images (photographs of braceros and paystubs) as well as first-hand accounts from primarily children of braceros who are recounting what their father told them.  

Film 

• “Harvest of Loneliness: The Bracero Program.” Films On Demand, Films Media Group, 2010, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=98088&xtid=43712. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.: A documentary that interviews Braceros about their experiences working in the U.S. Harvest of Shame (1960) 

• Malik, Sana, and Ingrid Holmquist, directors. A Farmworker Who Sees His Family Only Once a Year. 2020. An Intimate Look at a Farmworker’s Divided Life, in “Guanajuato Norte”, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/an-intimate-look-at-a-farmworkers-divided-life-in-guanajuato-norte. Accessed 14 November 2022: A contemporary look at what it is like to be a farm worker in Connecticut.  

Music (corridos) 

• https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1335 
• Corrido del bracero 

Museums 

• Museum of Sonoma County: https://museumsc.org/bracero-program/ 

Art 

• https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/braceros-86956 

Websites 

• https://braceroarchive.org/  
• https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/bracero-program