September 5, 2005

To find some meaning behind our end-of-summer holiday, I have uncovered an eclectic collection of American history sites that celebrate the working man’s struggle.

Fighters on the Farm Front
Between 1940 and 1943, the number of farm workers in the US decreased considerably because of army enlistment and competition with higher paying defense jobs. At the same time, farmers were asked to increase production to help the war effort. By 1943, the nation’s food supply was in serious jeopardy. On April 29, 1943, Congress passed the Farm Labor Supply Appropriation Act. This exhibit tells the story of how Oregon’s Emergency Farm Labor Service assisted with over 900,000 placements on the state’s farms. Farm laborers included city kids and women, soldiers, white collar workers, displaced Japanese-Americans, returning war veterans, migrant workers from Mexico and Jamaica, and even German prisoners-of-war.

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