Long-Lost Photos Reveal Life of Mexican Migrant Workers in 1950s America
Portrait of Mexican farm laborer, Rafael Tamayo, employed in the United States under the Bracero Program to harvest crop.
Sid Avery—MPTV
Lily Rothman for Time brings some long lost pictures of farm workers to our attention. World War II affected the U.S. labor market in countless ways, but in the American farms, the impact was perhaps most visible when harvest time arrived. With American workers off fighting, Mexican farm workers were brought to the U.S. through the “Bracero” guest worker program.
One of Avery’s contact sheets Sid Avery—MPTV The program continued until 1964. In 1957, the photographer Sid Avery was assigned by the Saturday Evening Post to do a story on the Bracero program. 60 years later, the photo agency MPTV has uncovered some of those photos, which have not been published since the original story.
Avery was best known for his work with celebrities, but this assignment sent him in a different direction. The accompanying article, by Fred Eldridge, explained how each year more than 400,000 legal Mexican laborers filled the role of “modern agricultural mercenary” helping make the U.S. farming industry work.
KJ