Dark Sweat, White Gold: California Farm Workers, Cotton, and the New Deal

by Devra Weber

Overview

In her incisive analysis of the shaping of California's agricultural work force, Devra Weber shows how the cultural background of Mexican and, later, Anglo-American workers, combined with the structure of capitalist cotton production and New Deal politics, forging a new form of labor relations. She pays particular attention to Mexican field workers and their organized struggles, including the famous strikes of 1933.

Weber's perceptive examination of the relationships between economic structure, human agency, and the state, as well as her discussions of the crucial role of women in both Mexican and Anglo working-class life, make her book a valuable contribution to labor, agriculture, Chicano, Mexican, and California history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520918474
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/28/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	344
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Devra Weber is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Maps 
Acknowledgments 
Introduction 
1. "We are producing a product to sell ... ": The Business of Cotton 
2. Sin Fronteras: Mexican Workers 
3. "As the faulting of the earth ... ": The Strike of 1933 
4. The Mixed Promise of the New Deal 
5. New Migrants in the Fields 
6. New Deal Relief Policies, Local Organizing, and Electoral Battles 
7. End of a Hope: The Strikes of 1938 and 1939 
8. "Down the valleys wild ... ": Conclusion 
Appendix A: Tables 
Appendix B: Proposal of the Associated Farmers 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index