Since hand labor is still necessary for the production of the blemish-free fruits and vegetables that consumers demand, migrant workers shift from place to place picking fruits and vegetables to feed a hungry nation. Although invisible to most people, the presence of migrant farm workers in many rural communities throughout the nation is undeniable.
Today, between 1 and 3 million migrant farm workers leave their homes every year to plant, cultivate, harvest, and pack fruits, vegetables and nuts in the U.S
With the added advantage of a car or owning a car or truck, they could travel greater distances. The photographs below reveal the condition of their lives in 1940, after the Great Depression while they picked fruits in Michigan.
Migrant fruit worker and child camped with fifteen other families along roadside in Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant fruit workers during slack season in between cherries and berries. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant fruit workers from Arkansas. They live in tent with three children. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Wife and child of migrant fruit worker in their tent home. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Camp of migrant fruit workers in field on outskirts of town. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant fruit worker making biscuits in her tent home. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant fruit workers from Louisiana fixing flat tire along the road. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Sleeping quarters in old barn occupied by migrant fruit workers. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant woman from Arkansas in cherry pickers camp. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant girl fixing her sister’s hair. Roadside camp of fruit worker. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant son picking cherries, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Grading cherries in packing plant. Berrien County, Michigan. These women are wives of migrant fruit pickers 1940
Migrant girls working in cherry canning plant, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant girls working in cherry canning plant, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant girls working in cherry canning plant, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant girls working in cherry canning plant, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant fruit workers. Berrien County, Michigan. The cherries were picked for their own use 1940
Migrant child in front of tent home, Berrien County, Michigan
Migrants getting car ready to move on in search for work, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrants getting car ready to move on in search for work, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant worker getting car ready to move on in search for work, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant fruit worker getting car ready to move on in search for work, Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Family of migrants from Arkansas ready to move to new work location. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Family of migrant fruit worker about to move on in search of work. Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Migrant fruit worker getting car ready to move on in search for work, Berrien County, Michigan
Migrant mother taking a picture of the family before moving on to new work location.
Berrien County, Michigan 1940
Check out these books by author Donna R. Causey
Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) – A novel inspired by the experiences of the Cottingham family who immigrated from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Bibb County, Alabama
Filled with drama, suspense, humor, and romance, DISCORDANCE continues the family saga from the Tapestry of Love series with the children of Mary Dixon who married Thomas Cottingham.
Inspired by true events and the Cottingham family that resided in 17th century Somerset, Maryland and Delaware, colonial America comes alive with pirate attacks, religious discord, and governmental disagreements in the pre-Revolutionary War days of America.
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