Organizing for
a Better LifeThe pace of organized efforts to improve
the conditions of Hispanic-American life
picked up under the urgent pressures of
the Great Depression. This occurred
despite the determined efforts of growers
and other employers to stop union organ-
izing by any available means, including
legislation, warnings about communist
infiltration, appeals to anti-immigration
sentiment, and old-fashioned intimida-
tion and violence.
In 1933 the Confederación de
Uniones de Campesinos y Obreros
Mexicanos (CUCOM) was founded,
growing out of a strike against strawber-
ry growers in El Monte, California; the
strikers won a wage increase. Mexican
Americans participated in other strikes in
California in 1933, including strikes by
pickers of cotton, peas, cherries, peaches,
lettuce, and grapes. Another important
year in the annals of Mexican-American
labor history was 1938, when a pecan
strike in San Antonio, Texas, led by the
United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing,THE AGE OF WORLD WARS 155MEXICAN AMERICANS AND THE NEW DEAL
New Deal Program Location Year Established Impact on Mexican AmericansInterdepartmental New Mexico 1933 Gave New Mexican rangeland to subsistence farmers,
Rio Grande Board Rio Grande Board most of whom were Mexican Americans.Civilian Conservation Nationwide 1933 Provided work to Mexican-American youths from Corps
Corps (CCC) (CCC) families who qualified for state relief.Federal Emergency Numerous towns 1933 Provided jobs for many Mexican-American laborers Relief
Relief Administration Administration and cities nationwide during the winter
(FERA) of 1934–1935.Resettlement Nationwide 1935 Cr eated permanent migrant labor camps in large-scale
Administration Administration farming regions, such as the Salt River
Valley of Arizona and the San Joaquin and Coachella valleys
of California. Facilities at these camps were far better than
those usually offered by private growers. Unlike many
facilities provided by private growers for migrant labor,
these government-run facilities provided wooden or
cement shacks, rather than tents, as well as running water.
The agency also created mobile camps in other areas dur-
ing peak seasons. Founded in 1935, the agency was
renamed Farm Security Administration in 1937.Works Progress Nationwide 1935 Hired carpenters, stonemasons, and other construc-
Administration (WPA) Administration (WPA)tion tradesmen as well as unskilled
laborers to build bridges, new housing, public schools, and
other gov-ernment buildings. The WPA also launched an
ambi-tious program called the Federal Writers’ Project,
which hired writers and artists to bring theater and the arts
to those who normally had little exposure to them. In addi-
tion, these writers and artists were asked to document the
cultural heritage of the nation. This program created a
revival of interest in the folk art of Nuevomexicanos, or New
Mexicans of Mexican heritage. However, participation in
WPA programs was limited to those referred by state wel-
fare agencies, which meant migrant workers were often
unable to benefit. In 1939, the program’s name was
changed to Works Projects Administration.