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SALINAS CALIFORNIAN
August 15, 2008
Bracero stories sought
After World War II, nearly 5 million Mexicans came north as part of the
Bracero program, helping fill the needs of U.S. industries left
shorthanded by the war.
Many of them labored in the Salinas Valley's fertile fields, where both
farm labor and civil rights struggles eventually thrived.
Now, a Stanford University graduate student is seeking stories about the
daily lives of braceros and Mexican Americans in Salinas during the two
decades following World War II.
"I want to document what the community was doing politically," said Lori
Flores, "not only at the civil rights level, but also how they created a
social and cultural space in Salinas."
Flores' dissertation will compare Mexican Americans of urban Los Angeles
and rural Salinas, studying their involvement in politics, labor
activism, education and community culture.
"I found an interesting connection in Salinas ... political
organizations and the political connection to farm-worker activism," she
said. "I want to know what it was like being a farm worker during that
time. I want to know what the city looked like, and how the social and
economic atmosphere were during those years."
Her dissertation may be the first to document the daily life of these
workers in Salinas. She may also be the first to analyze the communities
of Salinas and Los Angeles simultaneously.
Flores said she is going beyond legal documents in her research, instead
using interviews to better understand the environment in Salinas during
that time.
"This could really serve as a different kind of community history," she
said. "This information is so important now, especially with the
immigration issue."
Flores, a Yale University graduate, expects to complete her dissertation
by 2010.
"The history of these (Mexican) immigrants has been forgotten in
Salinas," she said. "This would give them a piece of history."
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