Mark A Torres - Long Island Migrant Labor Camps: Dust for Blood

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2021 by Mark A. Torres

All rights reserved

Frontispiece: Migrant Labor Camp Location map created in 1960 by the Suffolk County Migrant Labor and Slum Housing Commission. Each dotted mark denotes the location of a labor camp in the county. At the time that this map was created, there were 120 labor camps in Suffolk County that housed nearly two thousand migrant farmworkers. Courtesy of the Southold Historical Society, Southold Historical Society, Southold, New York.

First published 2021

e-book edition 2021

ISBN 978.1.43967.218.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020948628

print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.784.2

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

For my wife and children, who complete me.

AUTHORS NOTE

This book chronicles the history of the migrant labor camps in Suffolk County, New York, during the twentieth century. To those who do not reside on the eastern end of Long Island, the very notion that slum-like labor camps existed less than one hundred miles from New York City must seem like nothing more than rural folklore. Even those who might have known of their existence are likely unaware of the full extent of their history. But they did exist, and it is the obscurity of this history that inspired me to chronicle this story so that it can be known and studied and, most importantly, remembered.

Suffolk County is an area known for its rich history. However, information on the migrant labor camps is surprisingly scant. After an exhaustive search, no comprehensive primary or even secondary source chronicling this regions dark topic could be located. Most of the individuals who were directly affected are deceased. Details of the camps are rare and, in most cases, other than a general street name in a specific town or hamlet, they remain a mystery. Thus in far too many ways, much of this history is truly lost, and gathering information about this topic more than half a century from the camps heyday, proved to be dramatically challenging. Undeterred, I continued my research, and the deeper I delved into this history, the greater my obligation grew to tell it.

History can be a stubborn thing. Lingering personal accounts of life, exploitation and death have been shared by a handful of individuals who bore witness to this era, along with a few documentarians and local news reporters, all of whom strived to inform the public about the migrant labor camps that once dominated the region. Now, nearly eighty years after the first camp was established, this book shines a bright light on a story that has been long buried and very nearly forgotten. It raises, in the conscious mind, the camp structures that have long since vanished. Most importantly, it lends a voice to the thousands of migrants who came to Long Island each year in search of work, housing and dignity only to find abuse, misery and, in some cases, death. For if we lack the resolve to report the full history, then that history truly disappears, leaving an irreplaceable void.

The information in this book was gathered from hundreds of news articles written by respectable reporters of the time. A few short documentary films were particularly instrumental and quite illuminating. Several tangentially related literary pieces, along with some good old-fashioned investigative work, which included numerous interviews with people familiar with the subject, were also critical to my research.

On my journey, I visited with local clergy at various places of worship. I also met with incredibly bright and sincere local historians and librarians whose diligence and passion are always appreciated. I contacted local activist groups for assistance, many of whom were borne from a cause like the one featured in this story. I also spoke with several farmers from the area to gain their valuable perspective. A wide-sweeping information request filed with the Suffolk County Department of Health and other government agencies yielded over one thousand documents. Clearly, very few stones were left unturned, as the importance of this topic demanded it.

Despite the dark subject matter, I also learned about special individuals who, both in their personal and professional capacities, were very active in the fight to improve the conditions faced by migrant workers on Long Island. I had the good fortune to meet and befriend family members of these individuals who passionately shared stories and information about their long-lost loved ones. Our conversations were both informative and inspirational, and I felt obligated to properly capture their legacies in this book.

Lastly, although this book focuses on local history that is limited to a specific region and time period, it is but a microcosm of the plight faced by farmworkers throughout the nation for many years. More importantly, their plight continues today, and there is still a great amount of work needed to achieve justice for farmworkers in the United States and beyond. Local and national advocacy groups strive to extend federal and state labor law protection for farmworkers and to promote higher wages, better working conditions, access to health care and job safety information and immigration reform, all of which can help end the rampant discrimination and exploitation of those who work so hard to help feed our nation. For more information on how you can help, I encourage you to connect with local or national groups who tirelessly advocate for farmworkers each and every day. Every little bit does indeed help.

A man, a community, a civilization either takes responsibility or it does not. There is no middle course. To have seen with ones own eyes the terrible price of indifference, be it global or local, is lesson enough. Or is it?

Got to Move

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is dedicated to my wife, Migdalia Ortiz-Torres, whose spirit, strength, love and belief in me, along with her much-needed critical thinking, careful analysis and diligent research, have made this book possible.

This book is also dedicated to my children, Isabella, Jake and Olivia, who continue to inspire me every day to be a better father, person, teacher and writer. I would also like to thank my mother, Grace, whose strength knows no bounds, along with my family, friends and colleagues for their dedicated and unending support.

This book is also dedicated to all the warriors who persist in the labor movement and who collectively understand that an injustice anywhere in the workplace is an injustice everywhere in the workplace. I also dedicate this book to the memory of all the farmworkers and families referenced in this story and to all those who presently toil each and every day to help feed the greatest nation on earth. They deserve so much more and have been neglected for far too long.