In Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus, the difficult life of the main characters takes place against the greater backdrop of the struggle among migrant farmworkers for legal protections, safe working conditions, and fair pay. As I read the book, I was reminded of details from a history class I took last spring that explored the awakening of political awareness among different ethnic groups during the civil rights era.
Although people of Hispanic descent have been present in the American Southwest since before California became a state, the arrival of large numbers of Mexican immigrants began in the early years of the Second World War, when the Bracero program was hatched. Conceived as a guest worker program during a period of growing agricultural demand, the idea was to bring in farm laborers during the harvest season who would then return to their native land in the off season. While it was in effect, the Bracero program was interrupted at regular intervals by deportation actions such as “Operation Wetback” in 1954. Nonetheless, by the time this legal framework ended in 1964, over 4.5 million guestworkers had entered the country at one point or another.