Interview no. 1547

In the mid 1950\u27s, they began hiring braceros to help with the harvesting of the cotton. Ms. Ramos married Benito Juarez in 1945; her husband owned a ranch in Delmita, Texas that had been in his family for several generations; although her parents were migrant workers, she did not begin ranching until shortly after getting married; she and her husband knew about the braceros because they would often come to work in the neighboring city of Edinburg, Texas; in the mid 1950s, they began hiring braceros to help during the cotton season; they would hire between eighteen and twenty workers to help with the harvesting of the cotton; Laurentina recalls that most of the workers were between the ages of twenty and forty; the braceros would stay in the old abandoned house that belonged to Benito’s parents; although there were no beds in the house, the workers were given plenty of blankets and a radio for entertainment; they would use the bathrooms and washing machines in the main house; oftentimes, the braceros were passed on to her brother-in-law, and they would help him on his ranch; she would interact with the braceros often, as she would weigh the cotton they picked; in addition, she goes on to describe what some of the braceros were like in general and specific memories she has of them