Masters Thesis

The Heart of an Industry: The Role of the Bracero Program in the Growth of Viticulture in Sonoma and Napa Counties

This study examines the role of the Bracero Program in the growth of Sonoma and Napa County viticulture in an attempt to understand how important bracero labor was to the industry. While most histories of the Bracero Program are nationwide or statewide in scope, this study explores the regional complexities of how and why the program was used in Sonoma and Napa Counties, how both the growers and laborers in the region felt about it, and how this was different from and similar to other regions. Government documents provided the statistics necessary to determine the demographic changes in the region due to the Bracero Program. Important primary source material that provided the human side of the story includes a number of oral history interviews I conducted, the collection of Wine Industry Oral Histories, and various regional newspaper articles. The Bracero Program played a major role in the rapid expansion of vineyard acreage in the late 1960s and in how Mexican and Mexican-Americans became the primary source of vineyard labor today. Even though those contracted under the Bracero Program were used in relatively small numbers in Sonoma and Napa, braceros were integral to the growth of the regional viticulture industry. By providing the labor when it was needed, gaining the expertise necessary to grow premium wine grapes, and in establishing productive relationships with growers in spite of marked cultural differences, the braceros, and the non-bracero Mexican laborers who followed, were an essential factor in this growth. While the smaller landholdings in Sonoma and Napa Counties contributed to growers hiring fewer braceros as compared to other regions in California, it also encouraged more personal connections between growers and workers. While these connections and the relationships that developed did not mitigate all instances of racism and discrimination directed toward braceros, they improved the braceros’ daily life while in the U.S. and, in the eyes of the braceros, made Sonoma and Napa Counties highly desirable locations to work. By the time that the Bracero Program was terminated, Mexican labor was well-established in the vineyards of Sonoma and Napa Counties. By greatly increasing the number of Mexican workers, including bracero and non-bracero labor, in the U.S., the Bracero Program created a pool of skilled Mexican laborers in the region that was crucial to the dramatic increase in vineyard acreage that occurred in the late 1960s and 1970s. The entire industry rests upon the Mexican worker today, and their influence is in large part a result of the Bracero Program.

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