"The Harvest" (Arte Público Press, 1989) is a short story by Mexican American writer Tomás Rivera. Rivera was the first writer to document the experience of Mexican American migrant farm workers who each year traveled north from Texas to the Midwest to find seasonal work. Rivera, who was the son of Mexican immigrants, had been a migrant worker in his youth, at various times living and working in Iowa, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio. He therefore knew firsthand the difficult lives such workers had to endure, and still do today. Migrant workers are among the lowest paid of U.
S. workers and they often work long hours in difficult conditions. Housing provided for them is often inadequate, and they are frequently treated as aliens in the communities where they work, even though many are American citizens. Rivera wrote that, in spite of the hardships of their work, the Chicano migrant workers kept their spirits up by what he described as their love of the land. "The Harvest" is a story that illustrates this love. It shows how one old migrant worker regularly renews his feeling of kinship with the land. Through his example, one of the young workers discovers this connection for himself, leading him to a new appreciation of the earth and the cycle of the seasons.
This complete Introduction contains 220 words. This
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