Harvest of Shame

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about Edward R. Murrow's 1960 documentary Harvest of Shame. In this made-for-tv documentary, Murrow documents the life and work of migrant workers in Florida. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Harvest of Shame. It is appalling how little has changed since this film was made:

• Like textile workers at the turn of the last century, Florida tomato harvesters are still paid by the piece. The average piece rate today is 50 cents for every 32-lbs of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has remained virtually unchanged since 1980. As a result of that stagnation, a worker today must pick more than 2.25 tons of tomatoes to earn minimum wage in a typical 10-hour workday -- nearly twice the amount a worker had to pick to earn minimum wage thirty years ago, when the rate was 40 cents per bucket. Most farmworkers today earn less than $12,000 a year.

• In a January 2001 letter to members of Congress, the U.S. Department of Labor described farmworkers as "a labor force in significant economic distress," citing farmworkers' "low wages, sub-poverty annual earnings, [and] significant periods of un- and underemployment" to support its conclusions.

• As a result of intentional exclusion from key New Deal labor reform measures, farmworkers do not have the right to overtime pay, nor the right to organize and collectively bargain with their employers.

• In the most extreme conditions, farmworkers are held against their will and forced to work for little or no pay, facing conditions that meet the stringent legal standards for prosecution under modern-day slavery statutes. Federal Civil Rights officials have successfully prosecuted seven slavery operations involving over 1,000 workers in Florida’s fields since 1997, prompting one federal prosecutor to call Florida "ground zero for modern-day slavery." In 2010, federal prosecutors indicted two more forced labor rings operating in Florida.

(Facts from The Coalition of Immokalee Workers)

I would love to show Harvest of Shame as an introduction to a research project. Students could research issues surrounding agricultural process in the United States today and conclude the unit with a student-generated activism project.

In addition, I would like to teach this documentary alongside a novel that explores issues of migrant labor, such as Pam Munoz Ryan's novel, Esperanza Rising. This novel takes place during the depression and tells the story of a young and wealthy Mexican girl who suddenly loses her father and her family and immigrates to the U.S. with her mother. There, they must adapt to a new country and a new social class as they begin a new life working in the agriculture industry in California. Though the text is target for students in grades 6-9, the novel addresses labor and social issues in a rich and complex way and there is plenty of material for older students to deconstruct.



Murrow concludes, "The migrants have no lobby. Only an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion can do anything about the migrants. The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do. Good night, and good luck."