Harvest of Shame is a 1960 television documentary presented by broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow on CBS that showed the plight of American migrant agricultural workers. It was Murrow's final documentary for the network; he left CBS at the end of January 1961, at John F. Kennedy's request, to become head of the United States Information Agency. An investigative report intended "to shock Americans into action," it was "the first time millions of Americans were given a close look at what it means to live in poverty" by their televisions.
[1]In Confronting Poverty, 'Harvest Of Shame' Reaped Praise And Criticism, NPR, 2014
Since The Grapes of Wrath there has probably not been a more poignant picture of the migrant farm worker than the The Land of Plenty (1999), a documentary which has the added dimension that the workers are Mexican immigrants. Most do not speak English and are undocumented, with no means of protecting themselves from exploitation.
The Golden Cage: A Story of California's Farmworkers
The plight of migrant farmworkers has not changed much since the Depression. Only their nationality is different. The Golden Cage (1991) chronicles the experiences of Mexican farmworkers in California, and their isolation in a land of plenty. They toil under the blazing sun for little more than the minimum wage ...
Coming soon...
Films premiering May 2024 include new perspectives around immigration. How We Live (Como Vivimos) directed by Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz, shares a year with a close-knit community of Mexican-American farmworker families whose lives, routines, and schooling are disrupted every December when they are required to vacate their homes at the end of the growing season.
