Fields of Toil: A Migrant Family's Journey
As a reporter on special assignment for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Isabel Valle lived and traveled with a migrant family for an entire year. WSU Press, in collaboration with the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, compiled her award-winning reports in this dramatic book.
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As a reporter on special assignment for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Isabel Valle lived and traveled with a migrant family for an entire year. WSU Press, in collaboration with the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, compiled her award-winning reports in this dramatic book. Library Journal Valle, a journalist on assignment for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, lived, worked, and traveled with a Hispanic migrant farm family in the Northwest for one year. This book is a compilation of her columns on the lives of Raul and Elena Martinez and their 13 children as they traveled from their winter home in La Grulla, Texas, to the fruit and vegetable farms in Oregon and Washington during growing and harvest seasons. Valle portrays a working-class family that believes in the work ethic and family values but must cope with the frustrations and helplessness of migrant life. She describes the hardships of constant travel, low pay, child labor, poor housing, lack of adequate healthcare and of educational opportunities for the children, and cultural and language barriers that the Martinezes face daily. The assistance and caring provided by government and private agencies in Oregon and Washington helped to ease the burden. Readers will be impressed by the determination and endurance of the Martinez family, who have spent their lives in the field. Recommended for both lay readers and scholars.-Irwin Weintraub, Rugters Univ. Libs., Piscataway, N.J.
ForewordIntroductionPt. IJuly-October1The Migrant Life32Housing: From Chicken Coops to Trailers213Children in the Fields374Family Ties495Health: Parasites, Heart Disease, and Malnutrition576Job Hazards697The Journey Home77Pt. IINovember-February8The South Texas Valley939Illegal Aliens, Drug Smugglers, and the Border Patrol11110LaGrulla Elementary to St. Edward's University12311Cheap Labor and the UFW14912The Trip North157Pt. IIIMarch-June13Pasco Asparagus Harvest16714Is Education Enough?18115Business and Community: The Language Barrier19516Migrant Women: Never-Ending Toil20517Conclusion: Slow Progress21318Epilogue219Index223
\ Library JournalValle, a journalist on assignment for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, lived, worked, and traveled with a Hispanic migrant farm family in the Northwest for one year. This book is a compilation of her columns on the lives of Raul and Elena Martinez and their 13 children as they traveled from their winter home in La Grulla, Texas, to the fruit and vegetable farms in Oregon and Washington during growing and harvest seasons. Valle portrays a working-class family that believes in the work ethic and family values but must cope with the frustrations and helplessness of migrant life. She describes the hardships of constant travel, low pay, child labor, poor housing, lack of adequate healthcare and of educational opportunities for the children, and cultural and language barriers that the Martinezes face daily. The assistance and caring provided by government and private agencies in Oregon and Washington helped to ease the burden. Readers will be impressed by the determination and endurance of the Martinez family, who have spent their lives in the field. Recommended for both lay readers and scholars.-Irwin Weintraub, Rugters Univ. Libs., Piscataway, N.J.\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsValle follows the Martinez family for a year working in Oregon and Washington and wintering in south Texas. Original version was a set of reports in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \
