John Tomlin

John Tomlin

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: John Tomlin was born on April 20, 1926 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; his father died of polio when he was an infant, leaving his mother to run the family farm on her own; he later went on to serve in the military, receive his master’s degree, and ultimately work as a farmer; from 1948-1964, he hired braceros to help him tend the land.


Summary of Interview: Mr. Tomlin recalls how his mother ran the farm after his father’s passing by using Italian and German POWs; in 1946, after finishing his tour of duty in the Army, he returned home and began attending New Mexico State University; the following year in 1947, he started running the farm on his own while he went to school; in 1948, he began hiring braceros; he used a crew of thirty men during the cotton harvest, which ran from mid September to the beginning of December; he had about six braceros who stayed on year-round driving tractors and irrigating; oftentimes, he had to go the El Paso Coliseum to hire workers because the working contracts needed to be renewed periodically; he provided housing with showers, utensils, and bedding in addition to equipment such as hoes, shovels, and boots for irrigating; the braceros often went home to México on holidays or to care for sick relatives; they did not work Saturday afternoons or on Sundays; he goes on to recount anecdotes of the braceros in general and stories of particular workers he was fond of.

Morgan, Beth

Tomlin, John

2003-04-23

Farmer

Cristóbal Borges

Institute of Oral History, The University of Texas at El Paso

eng

John Tomlin

Morgan, Beth

Cristóbal A. Borges

Institute of Oral History, The University of Texas at El Paso

Mini Disc

2:07:10

24 bit
96 k

Morgan, Beth

Tomlin, John

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Tomlin_ELP050