Teacher Materials

• Materials and Preparation
• Procedure

Student Materials

• Background Readings
• Corrido Worksheet

Primary Sources

“Corrido Pensilvanio” from Mexican Labor in the United States

La Prensa, work advertisement

“The Time for Mexican Laborers Has Arrived” from La Prensa, Wednesday, April 4, 1923.

“State Notes” from The Bethlehem Globe March 21, 1923

“Harding backs Up Judge Gary on Immigration” from The Bethlehem Globe April 17, 1923

Introduction

Bethlehem Steel relied upon the unskilled labor of eastern and southern European immigrants in the early 20^th century; however, immigration quotas in 1921 led the company to seek an alternate labor source from Mexico. The open border in the southwestern United States as well as the economic and social depression following the Mexican Revolution led to an increase in Mexican migration. The Mexican government, in an attempt to protect the growing number of its citizens engaged in American industries, required that employers draft labor contracts stipulating the terms and conditions of employment. Recruitment from Mexico could not take place without this labor agreement. Bethlehem Steel drafted a labor contract in 1923 with the Mexican Consulate for the importation of its new immigrant workforce. In April and May of that year, trains carrying 917 laborers departed from San Antonio, Texas, for the steel mills of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This lesson explores the role of Mexican labor in Bethlehem and allows students to compare an early 20^th century case of Mexican immigration with contemporary debates. Students will engage with a popular Mexican ballad form from the early 20^th century called the border corrido. The “Corrido Pensilvanio” depicts details of the recruitment and migration of hundreds of Mexican laborers to Bethlehem and reveals how the industrial experience of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation was a departure from the typical agricultural labor of the southwestern Mexican worker. Students will also analyze a work advertisement and articles from the Spanish newspaper La Prensa published in San Antonio, Texas. 

Materials

Background reading for teachers

"La Prensa and the Mexican Workers of Bethlehem Steel" by Melissa Mandell,  from Pennsylvania Legacies

“Bethlehem Steel,” from Mexican Labor in the United States

Background information on border corridos, 20th century and contemporary Mexican immigration

Background reading for students

 “Around the World with Bethlehem Steel” by Sharon Ann Holt, from Pennsylvania Legacies

"Growing Up Within the Sound and Shadow of Bethlehem Steel, 1930 to 1955" by Susan W. Clemens-Bruder, from Pennsylvania Legacies 

Procedure

Essential Questions:

• What was the significance of Bethlehem Steel’s recruitment of Mexican labor?
• What were the conditions of the contract between Bethlehem Steel and the Mexican laborers?
• How did industrial labor compare with other economic opportunities typically available to Mexican workers in the United States?
• How do the experiences of the 1920s Mexican steelworker compare to contemporary Mexican immigration?

1. Distribute the “Corrido Pensilvanio” and the work advertisement from La Prensa. If possible, have a student read the Spanish version of the corrido out loud for the full appreciation of the meter and rhyme. Ask students if they detect certain patterns that reveal the form of the corrido (ABCB rhyme scheme, four line stanzas each with eight syllables). Briefly discuss with students the use of ballads as a means to illustrate historical events and group sentiment. Discuss the border corrido as a genre of the ballad that had particular significance in the southwestern region of the United States between 1880 and 1930. Discuss how the themes of corridos change to reflect contemporary issues.
2. Students should work either individually or in pairs to dissect each stanza of the corrido. As a class, dissect the corrido and draw upon the primary source material to create a statement summarizing the event depicted in the song.
3. As a class, develop a profile of the Mexican laborer who migrated to Bethlehem Steel in 1923. The teacher should generate a silhouette of a person on the board or on a large sheet of paper and write the term Mexican steelworker at the top. The profile should include information about the type of labor this worker engaged in, how the worker came to Bethlehem Steel, age, gender, etc. Ask the students to refer back to the corrido and the advertisement for information. Generate a discussion around major themes such as solos (workers who migrated alone), braceros (laborers) and how this term by the 1940s would become synonymous with the bracero program, industrial labor compared to agricultural work, contract labor, etc.
4. Have students read “The Time for Mexican Laborers Has Arrived” from La Prensa regarding the specific details of the contract negotiated between Bethlehem Steel and the Mexican Consulate. The teacher may choose to have the students complete this reading for homework. Ask students to answer the following questions:
• What was the legal status of the Mexican workers of Bethlehem Steel?
• What was the role of the Mexican Consulate?
• What protections were guaranteed to the Mexican workers in the contract? Were these protections necessary?
• What were some expenses that the worker incurred due to this migration?
• What expenses did Bethlehem Steel absorb for the worker?
• Speculate why many of these workers were solos.
5. In class, have students share their answers and incorporate this information into the worker profile. Where appropriate, draw upon Taylor’s reading to provide the students with additional information, particularly when discussing transportation costs and “birds of passage.”
6. Place the Bethlehem Steel labor situation in the larger historical context by discussing the impact of 1920s immigration policy, labor shortages, and the political and economic situation in Mexico that influenced the recruitment of Mexican labor in the United States. Teachers may choose to have students read and compare the Bethlehem Globe articles that highlight the local and national labor shortage that affected Bethlehem Steel’s importation of Mexican labor. Also have students infer the impact of the Great Depression on Mexican labor in the United States and how this changed by the start of World War II to demonstrate the shifting policies regarding Mexican immigration.