Browse Items · Bracero History Archive

Héctor Ponce

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Héctor Ponce was born on April 1, 1933, in Valle de Zaragoza, Chihuahua, México; both of his parents worked in agriculture; he was formally educated through the fifth grade; sometime later, he traveled to…

Sebastián Martínez

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Sebastián Martínez was born on November 16, 1938, in Saragosa, Texas; as a child he and his family moved to Pecos, Texas; during the fifties, when he was roughly fourteen or fifteen years old, he began working…

A bracero closes a full Toro lettuce box with a special tool in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.

Officials take fingerprints from braceros while others wait in line to be processed at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros sit in a truck and wait to leave the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros sit in a truck and wait to leave the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros sit in a truck and wait to leave the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros board a truck at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros wait to be processed at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros were fumigated with DDT while others stand in line at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros were fumigated with DDT while others stand in line at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros were fumigated with DDT while others stand in line at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.

Braceros walk over the bridge to Hidalgo, Texas coming from Reynosa, Nuevo Leﾗn and cross the border between Mexico and United States.

After a long journey to the border, braceros walk across the bridge between Reynosa, Mexico and Hidalgo, Texas.

After a long journey to the border, braceros walk across the bridge between Reynosa, Mexico and Hidalgo, Texas. In the United States, braceros went through health inspections and processing, and then boarded buses and trailer trucks to begin work in…