Breaking Painful Silences During and After the Bracero Program: Through the Voices of Mexican Women

This is a qualitative case study, using a feminist lens as a theoretical frame, that examines institutional problems that Mexican women encountered since the Bracero Program. At that time, women were not allowed to work certain jobs and were left at home separated from their husbands or fathers while the men migrated to The United States for seasonal agricultural labor as Braceros. Braceros were Mexican male farmworkers that were recruited through a federal guest program to legally work and migrate to the United States seasonally after World War II, from 1942-1964. As a result, women were left alienated and exploited on their own, and it was up to them to take charge of the family and hold everything and everyone together. There is little known research that discusses these women’s experiences and stories. And to uncover these stories, I address the ways photography and traditional Mexican storytelling, and arts-based storytelling reveal hidden stories of family, longing, sacrifice, and women’s unrecognized labors. Through an autoethnographic methodology, I explain my place as a Mexican American woman and as a researcher during the study. This study uncovers the history of migrating Bracero families, acknowledges the women’s experiences, and discusses the importance of passing down stories of an often-overlooked moment and experiences of migration and immigration in both United States and Mexican history.