chronicles of a fieldworker: my first live concert was unforgettable

submitted by julio bracamonte jr., former fieldworker
edited by justin orsino & sarina e. guerra

My name is Julio Bracamonte Jr. and I’d like to tell you about an experience I had in the 1960s during the Cesar Chavez march era. I started working in the fields picking and packing grapes in 1963 at the age of 13. I learned how to do a lot of field work early when I was young, but I didn’t like it because of how hard it was. Picking and packing grapes wasn’t tough to learn though, so I got the hang of it quickly.

One thing that was difficult to do was use the field hoes, because they were different when I worked back then. The handle was short, about 14 inches, and since it was just the blade we had to bend over a lot. The rows in the fields were long, some of them almost a half mile, and as you’re working you’re bending down the whole time. After a while, it became painful, but now things have changed. Today, the hoes have long handles like a broom with a little flat blade, almost like a tiny shovel. The long handle allows you to reach each plant more easily. I believe that change was the result of Cesar Chavez’s work with the labor union, United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Back in the ’60s, farm owners didn’t think about those kinds of things.

In my teenage years and during time off from summer school, I learned how to work in the fields with a group of Filipinos and Mexicans while we traveled from Arizona to the Central Valley earning $1.10 an hour and $.10 a box. When we were stationed in towns, all of us workers were banned from leaving our camps because the bosses didn’t want us drinking and getting into trouble, so instead we played checkers, dominoes, and read books. Some guys were pretty good at drawing and painting, but there wasn’t much time for fun. We started work early, at 5 am just before sunrise, and would go straight through until about 3 pm before being released. There were many, many long days.

Our labor didn’t go unnoticed though, because something unforgettable happened to us in the summer of 1966 while working in Lamont and Earlimart.

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