Bracero Stories: Mexico’s Guest Workers in History, Historiography, and Public Memory

Today in the United States, critics of guest worker programs liken them to legalized slavery. Many cite the Bracero Program (1942–64) as the precedent. How did a program embraced by Mexican campesinos for the opportunities it offered become so stigmatized by scholars and activists? This study analyzes a historiography of bracero trauma and exploitation, comparing today’s critical narratives to contemporaneous depictions. It complicates a misunderstood history of the program’s recruitment operations and controversial savings plan. Lastly, it offers an alternative narrative of bracero agency, opportunity, and resistance via an assessment of public history memorials and oral history collections.