Farmers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas saw a rise of wetback labor in the 1930s and 40s. The wetback laborers were Mexicans who had crossed the Rio Grande and were in the United States illegally to work. Carrol Norquest, a farmer in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, employed wetbacks regularly. In this book, Mr. Norquest writes about the…

Racism and racial exploitation, rather than disappearing with the march of capitalist development, appear instead as its intimate companions. The racial experience of the Mexican in South Texas was shaped by the rapid development of agriculture there in the early part of the century, between 1900-1910 and 1920-1930. The agrarian land revolution…