Black and white photograph of a truck with people standing in the bed. They're holding American flags.
Picture of man with shovel releasing crop from a storage bin on the farm.
Baby photo of Belen Soto Moren standing on a chair outside.
Picture of Belen Soto Moreno and her cousin as young girls.
Picture of Belen Soto Moreno at her Holy Communion.
Picture of Belen and friends with softball mits
Two men using a tractor to move hay bales.
Photo of a Man, two women and a small boy standing in front of bookshelves.
Man in field (plowing?) working with horses.
Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso
Workers using horses to move a structure.
Four children posing outside a building.
Photograph of Belen, Carmen and Ramon Soto as children.
Discusses housing and social interactions with braceros at the Stallings farm in Arkansas.
University of Texas at El Paso, Institute of Oral History
Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Thom E. Beasley was born in 1949, in East Central Arkansas, between Hughes and Forrest City, Arkansas; his grandfather, father and uncle owned a farming partnership by the name of CJ Beasley and Sons; they had roughly five thousand acres of land, one thousand five hundred of which were dedicated to cotton alone; they hired workers throughout the duration of the bracero program. Summary of Interview: Mr. Beasley talks about his family as well as the farming partnership owned by his grandfather, father and uncle, by the name of CJ Beasley and Sons; although the bracero program began before Thom was born, he remembers braceros being around as he was growing up, until the program ended in 1964; the braceros came to the farm headquarters, and from there they were taken to tenant houses in school buses; they slept in bunk beds and were supplied with mattresses, blankets, cooking and heating stoves and propane; although there was no indoor plumbing, they did have outhouses; moreover, they stayed in the same places the year-round employees did; oftentimes, the same braceros were hired; Thom recalls that one of their biggest complaints was about the water, because it gave them gas due to the high levels of calcium and iron; if they were ever sick, they were taken to the doctor in town; the braceros’ daily routine consisted of making and eating breakfast very early, and then picking in the fields until 11:00 AM, at which point they made lunch and took a siesta until about 2:30 PM, before returning to pick until dark; there were never any problems with their siesta, because they prepared their food from scratch and still managed to out produce everyone else; braceros often picked an average of five hundred pounds of cotton per day; some picked up to seven hundred pounds; Thom repeatedly mentions how amazed and impressed they all were at the braceros’ work ethic; he also mentions a curious incident in which a few years after the program ended, he found a field of marijuana growing behind the tenant houses where the braceros had lived.
Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee: Vance E. Beasley was born on March 11, 1916, in Heber Springs, Arkansas; in 1927, his family moved to Heth, Arkansas; he was the third eldest of his six siblings, four brothers and two sisters; with the exception of one of his sisters, the rest of his siblings passed away; he was educated in public schools, but he often went in late and left early in order to help with the crops; in 1939, he graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in agriculture; soon after he married, and he and his wife had three children; he later went on to help his father and brother with their farming partnership, CJ Beasley and Sons. Summary of Interview: Mr. Beasley describes his family and what his life was like growing up; he also talks about his wife and children; during the midfifties, his father asked him to help with the family farm and the partnership of CJ Beasley and Sons; the dwindling labor supply led to their hiring of braceros, particularly for help with cotton, their primary crop; they took on thirty-five to forty braceros per season, and they stayed for contracts of roughly two and a half months; the farmers were required to provide basic necessities such as housing, bedding and cooking supplies; in addition, the braceros were given picking sacks, which were roughly seven feet long and could hold up to one hundred pounds; there was always at least one man in the group of braceros who spoke English and served as a leader; he would receive pay for all the workers and distribute it accordingly; he was also responsible for helping the men buy groceries; Vance repeatedly mentions the incredible work ethic of the braceros; they picked cotton better than any other workers; in fact, he mentions an instance in which he hired workers from Memphis, Tennessee, but they drank too much and did not pick the row of cotton as clean as the braceros did; he found it easier to pay them to leave; eventually, mechanization took over and eliminated the need for manual labor, which in his opinion, ultimately led to the end of the bracero program.