Embedded Files
Identifying the agricultural labor camps in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Monterey Counties, the map depicts the travel paths and temporary stopping points for migrant laborers through the three counties. Other types of labor camps (e.g., construction, railroad, dairy) are not included, nor are boarding houses, hotels, or dormitories, which also housed migrant laborers and were inspected by the California Commission of Immigration and Housing (CCIH). Data on the locations, numbers, and types of agricultural labor camps were collected from CCIH inspection letters, from 1918 to 1934.
The Filipino workers were migrant workers, moving up and down the state as the crops were in need of care. They made stops along the central coast in search of work as the different crops were harvested at different times of the year.
In the winter time they were concentrated in the southern regions of that area with cool season crops being grown at these times. In Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, and Arroyo Grande they grew and harvested crops such as peas, broccoli, beats, lettuce, and celery.
As the summer months would come around, they would move north into the cooler climate of the Salinas Valley and Watsonville to harvest some of the same crops but also carrots and artichokes. These workers would sometimes move to other parts of the state and country, but for the most part they would not move for too far or too long because of the constant need for their labor.
The map was designed by Margaret Ikeda and Evan Jones,
installed in the IOOF Hall for the Routes and Roots exhibit
The enumeration sheets for the U.S. census list each individual that was counted in the census along with their residence and demographic information (for example, age, gender, occupation, birthplace). Browsing through the enumeration sheets of the 1930 U.S. census, a Filipino labor camp is easily identifiable by a listing of about 15 lodgers, all from the Philippines. The picture of the census pages illustrates the demographics of the Filipino residents in the labor camps of the time, and how similar they were. Nearly all the residents were single males in their 20’s and employed as farm laborers, usually on vegetable farms.
For further reading:
15th census population, San Luis Obispo County (1930). http://www.archive.org/details/californiacensus00reel213.
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