Roots and Legacy: Jesus Salas
Starting in the 1930s, tens of thousands of Hispanic families from Texas and northern Mexico began traveling to Wisconsin for farm work. Many were seasonal workers, migrants, but increasingly, Hispanics worked in the state’s year-round dairy industry. Conditions in the early decades ranged from poor through terrible. The newest documentary produced by Milwaukee PBS, “Roots and Legacy: Jesus Salas,” tells part of their story.
The documentary is based on the memoir of Jesus Salas, a prominent Wisconsin farmworker activist. “Roots and Legacy” recounts the conditions under which Salas, his family and friends labored. The work was hard, the pay low. Child labor laws were routinely violated. Many migrants slept in barns and sheds without ready access to running water or toilets. The Wautoma public school Salas attended in the 1950s was segregated by classroom—Chicanos in one room, Anglos in another. During the harvest, children rose early to work, then went to school and returned to the fields once classes ended.
Change began in the ‘60s when Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson declared his War on Poverty and provided federal funds for organizations such as UMOS to improve farmworkers’ lives. In 1965 Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers union staged protests in California and launched a boycott of non-union grapes that extended to Wisconsin’s popular beverage, brandy. Salas and other activists took courage from Chavez’s example and began organizing for better conditions in the Dairy State. The solidarity shown by Wisconsin Hispanics became their strength. As a result, Wisconsin now has some of the nation’s strongest laws protecting migrant farmworkers.
“Roots and Legacy: Jesus Salas” debuts on Milwaukee PBS Chanel 10 at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17. There will also be a free screening 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 25 at Flores Hall, 2977 S. 20th St. Following the screening, the documentary’s producer, Patricia Gomez, will lead a panel discussion with guests from the film including Salas.
