Browse Exhibits (6 total)
Hillbilly Highway Migrant Southerners: Places of Labor and Connection, 1920s- 1980s
For a full-screen view, follow this link.
As I first began to work on this project my goal was to find moments where migrants from the South travelled along Hillbilly Highway and found moments of joy and community despite desperate economic conditions. Hillbilly Highway is the term coined by Steven Earle in 1986 denoting the path Southerners and Appalachians took to Midwestern cities when looking for economic opportunities. With the mechanization of mines, hundreds of thousands of migrants came to the North to find work.
Without thinking twice, I stated that I only wanted to look for these moments of humanity or connection, away from workspaces, factories, or fields. However, along the way, I began to realize how I was negating the true experience of a working-class, Southern migrant. I was demanding them to work and survive in adverse conditions while documenting their lives in detail. I was asking too much of the historical actors I claimed to serve. With this realization, I began to reorient myself and what it meant to uncover moments of community when individuals were working seven days a week for twelve-hour days. To start, where have previous scholars found evidence of a working-class community? What were their findings, and how did they unveil the relationship between the workplace and community building?
I came upon Robin Kelley and his article, “We Are Not What We Seem:” Rethinking the Black Working Class Opposition in the Jim Crow South. Kelley is a Professor of American History at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his work theoretically grounds my entire project. In this article, Kelley builds upon Anthropologist James C. Scott’s infrapolitics concept. Infrapolitics or the daily struggle waged by subaltern groups “should be invisible… is in large part by design — a tactical choice born in prudent awareness of the balance of power.” The theory of infrapolitics challenges the researcher to not ignore tiny moments of resistance. In stealing moments for themselves and being proud of their identity, the migrants participated in infrapolitics and influenced the political world in which they were living. Daily actions by migrants had consequences for existing power relationships and shaped the communities they were a part of.
Rather than looking for huge parties, secret sex scandals, or migrants doubled over in laughter, I must look for the small moments.The moments where they snuck away from the production line, took a drag off a cigarette, and sang a song. These seemingly tiny moments are what I need to be looking for, and this is what I have found.
An Incomplete History of Mexican Fort Worth
At the start of this project, I wanted to focus on the demographic development of Fort Worth's North Side neighborhood and why it became it a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, and what it can say about the city and immigration.
In researching for this project, I was not surprised to one, find Fort Worth history so focused on notable white residents and industries run by white people that shaped the city and two, discover a general lack in scholarship and history of the Mexican and Hispanic residents of the city. The sources that examined and documented the history of Mexican immigration and residents to Fort Worth were largely focused on the early 20th century. I wrote what I could find – and given more time, I am sure I can find satisfying post-World War II histories of Mexican Fort Worth that answer my questions about other largely Mexican parts of the city and what the demographic, economic, and social trends in the North Side say about the future of the North Side.
The pages in this project feature a look at Mexican immigration to Texas in the early 20th century, a general history of the city of Fort Worth and the North Side, the pull factors that brought Mexican immigrants to Fort Worth, how these Mexican immigrants settled in the North Side and in the city, and lastly, a reflection of the gaps in the research.
Note: Click on the photographs and maps to see their citations.
Voces de Migrantes: After the Harvest in Rural South Carolina
This experimental film employs two methods - oral history and videography - to document the lived experiences of three migrants who are connected to agricultural production in the rural U.S. South. The video unfolds as a series of one-minute shots capturing the rural landscape of Ridge Spring, South Carolina. The scenery is accompanied by three voice recordings of the oral histories as the background narration. The narratives are from a migrant farmworker, an ex-migrant farmworker, and a non-traditional clothing vendor.
In The Shadows: The Harsh Reality of Migrant Workers in the US
A short documentary video talking about the harsh working conditions of migrant workers, highlighting news stories of workers from the South, the H-2A visa program, and the lack of safety precautions and conditions in their jobs.
Health and Workplace Safety in Southern Migrant Labor
Migrants make up a large and essential part of the US southern labor force. Because of this, it is crucial to understand how migrant labor intersects with access to the healthcare system. This journalistic project highlights not only the intersection of labor and healthcare, but also the role that legal status plays in workers' lives. The piece is based on an original interview, with context offered on topics such as access to insurance and workplace conditions.
The Pull of Southern Industries
The Pull of Southern Industries follows migration routes from different southern-based industries: for example, poultry processing during the 1970s-1990s and of seasonal movements of migrant farmworkers throughout the agrarian south in the 1900s. This project focuses on labor-induced migration as many households and individuals who choose to migrate do so for economic betterment.