Bartman 1

Jessica Bartman
LBS 375
31. October. 2012
Professor Namala
Buried Amongst the Races:
Californias Agriculture Race Game
Throughout time California has been centered on its inhabitants races. It seemed that the
darker the color of ones skin the lower a person was on the social ladder. During the gold rush
California became a prosperous place for immigrants of all kinds. But racial inequality would
become prominent all over California. Despite all the efforts California placed on immigrants
more and more of them showed up daily. With agricultural work on the rise, it was no surprise
as to where people of non-Anglo descent would be allowed to work. The Anglo-Americans
werent willing to work the long hours in the unbearable heat for a meager pay, so in turn the
accessibility to immigrant labor was high. According to the book Major Problems in California
History, the total labor required in the industry, 10% was factory labor and chiefly whiteAmerican, and 90% was field labor which was practically 100% foreign labor. (Major
Problems, p. 87) With the need for foreign labor on the rise, Anglo-Americans would soon prove
to be unwilling to treat a foreign workforce the same as the Anglo-American workforce. In the
late 19th and early 20th centuries California thrived solely upon agricultural labor. Unfortunately
for men on non-Anglo backgrounds, these jobs were accessible to them based primarily on race

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and nationality, they were restricted from organizing, and forced to struggle to live with menial
wages as 3rd class workers.
With race being the determining factor for wages, men of non-Anglo descent only had
access to Californias harsh agricultural labor. Farm labor in California was race driven, with
Anglo-Americans organizing; farmers had to develop an alternative way to increase labor with
no decrease to their profits. According to McWilliams, a notable fact about farm labor in
California is the practices of employers to pay wage rates on the basis of race, i.e. to establish
different wage rates for each racial group, thus fostering racial antagonism and incidentally,
keeping wages at the lowest possible point. (McWilliams, p. 118) With wage rates being
classified by race, and wages being set at the lowest possible rates farm workers struggled to
survive. With no other jobs open to hiring non-Anglo Americans, the farm workers had no
choice but to suffer through this discrimination and inequality.
This maltreatment of farm workers was not distributed to one specific race in fact all
races and nationalities other than Anglo-American were exploited in Californias agricultural
work force including the Mexican farm workers. With the false idea of being able to make
money for their families back home, Mexican farm workers traveled to California with the hope
of achieving the American dream, but awaiting them was a harsh and crude reality. In the article
Grower Frank Stokes Defends Mexican farm Workers efforts to Organize, 1936 Frank Stokes
tells of this alternative reality, not only in the fields are the Mexican people exploited, legitimate
prey. (Stokes, Major Problems, p.276) With an already preconceived disgust, the Mexican
workers faced the same harsh reality as the immigrants before them. Along with the Mexican
farm workers the inequality spread throughout the non-Anglo nationalities for example to the
Chinese immigrants. The Chinese farm workers originated in the gold rush, already

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discriminated against and despised it was no surprise that this horrible treatment would continue.
McWilliams states, The Chinese, being a despised minority fighting for the right to exist in a
hostile territory, could be employed at sub-subsistence wages. In other respects, moreover they
were ideal farm workers. (McWilliams, p.70) With race being the ultimate determination of
wages, no non-Anglo immigrants were even given a chance to achieve the American dream.
With the low wages and discrimination many immigrants like the Chinese and Mexican farm
workers had no choice but to keep working in the fields.
Faced with a never-ending battle of hatred, inequality, and lack of choices; Many farm
workers tried to organize a union and fight for their own justice. Coming up with the idea wasnt
difficult, finding the people to join was manageable, but making a difference proved exhausted.
According to Frank Stokes, These Mexicans were asking for a well-deserved wage increase and
free transportation to and from the widely scattered groves, finally they asked for recognition of
their newly formed union. The growers and packers agreed to furnish tools, to furnish
transportation they even agreed to a slight wage increase but recognition of the Mexican
workers union? Never. (Stokes, Major Problems, p.275) Even though the Mexicans were able
to organize a union, the Anglo-Americans wouldnt see them as an actual union like the growers
union was. Farm owners still continued to treat Mexicans unjustly but turned up the stakes by
making the fields more diverse. Changing the dynamic on the field caused a big problem for the
ability to unionize for Mexican farm workers, which helped keep the unions from gathering.
According McWilliams, the foreman of the Griffin ranch, in the same area, stated to a reporter
that; Last year our Hindu workers struck. So this year we mixed half Mexicans in with them,
and we arent having any labor trouble now. (McWilliams, p. 118) Although the farm owners

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caused a language barrier between the farm workers, they would never stop the unions from
growing and fighting for a chance to change the system.