Overview
Fort Collins Migrant Agricultural Labor
Author
Kayla Nelson
Topics
Latino beet farmers; Fort Collins, Colorado; agriculture; community
Theme / Focus
Latino beet farmers and their contributions to agriculture and the community, and the challenges they faced
Learning Outcomes:
- Literacy
- Social Studies
- Writing
Materials and Resource Sets
Lesson Plan
While the lesson plan grade level is designed for Second Grade, it is scaleable to adjust to different audiences.
Inquiry/Essential Questions:
- How were the Latino beet farmers of Fort Collins an asset to their community?
Standard Alignment (Evidence Outcomes):
- SS.2.1.1.a Explain that the nature of history involves stories of the past preserved in various primary and secondary sources. For example: Images, oral and written accounts, etc.
- SS2.1.2.b Describe the changes within one neighborhood and/or community over time.
- SS2.4.6.b Analyze how community members, including African American, Latino, Asian American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, and religious minorities advocate for their interests and responsibly influence decisions in their community.
Key Vocabulary:
- Migrant
- Agriculture
- Latino
- Hispanic
- Farming
- Sugar beet
- Root corp
- Short hoe
- Harvesting knife
- Labor
- Citizenship
Place/Location:
Activity:
See the slide deck for all activity options. This is meant to be taught in one unit, or can be broken down into one or two lesson increments. Use what you see fits your and your students time and needs.
Day One
- Use Fort Collins History- Migrant Agricultural Labor slideshow (pp. 1-17)
- Slides include vocabulary, maps, video, and a Gallery Walk activity:
- FoCO History Migrant Workers Gallery Walk
- How It’s Made: Beet Sugar (video; start at 0:46)
Day Two
- Use Fort Collins History- Migrant Agriculture Labor slideshow (pp. 18-34)
- Slides includes historical context, several videos, and a Zoom In, Zoom Out activity:
- Sugar Beet workers (mp4)
- Unsettled: The Life of a Migrant Farmworker Family (video)
- Migrant Workers (video)
- Zoom In, Zoom Out Activity (PDF, p. 1)
- Inquiry Questions:
- What does the construction and condition of this home reveal about the economic realities faced by migratory Mexican field workers during the Great Depression?
- How does the setting of the frozen pea field reflect the seasonal and precarious nature of migrant labor?
- In what ways might images like this influence public perceptions of migrant laborers and their contributions to the U.S. agricultural economy?
- How does the concept of “home” in this image reflect broader themes of displacement and belonging for Mexican migrant families?
- What comparisons can be made between the living conditions depicted here and those of other marginalized labor groups during the same period?
Unsettled: The Life of a Migrant Farmworker Family
Life in the Heartland
Day Three
- Use Fort Collins History- Migrant Agricultural Labor slideshow (pp. 35-41)
- Slides includes picture book, videos, and Zoom In, Zoom Out activity:
- Where are you From (video of read aloud book)
- Zoom In, Zoom Out Activity (PDF, p. 2)
- Inquiry Questions:
- How did visual documentation like Hine’s influence public perceptions of labor inequality in the early 20th century?
- What parallels exist between the living conditions depicted here and those experienced by later generations of Hispanic beet workers?
- How does spatial segregation in labor housing reflect broader patterns of racial and economic inequality?
Day Four
- Use Fort Collins History- Migrant Agricultural Labor slideshow (pp. 42-49)
- Slides includes videos and oral history:
- The Story of a Sugar Beet Workers (pdf)
- The Story of Sugar Beet Workers (video)
- Chuck Solano Oral History (video)
- Zoom In, Zoom Out Activity (PDF, p. 3)
- Inquiry Questions:
- What does this image reveal about the role of children in agricultural labor during the Great Depression?
- How does the setting and subject matter reflect systemic inequalities faced by Mexican migrant families?
- In what ways might images like Lange’s influence public perception of labor and child welfare policies during this era?
- How does the girl’s participation in agricultural labor illustrate broader trends in family labor dynamics within migrant communities?
- What parallels can be drawn between this image and contemporary issues of child labor and migrant labor rights?
Day Five
- Use Fort Collins History- Migrant Agricultural Labor slideshow (pp. 50-60)
- Slides includes maps, videos and picture book.
- Museo de Las Tres Colonias (video)
- Watercress (video)
- Inquiry Question: This story was not about sugar beets. How does it relate to the sugar beet workers and other migrant workers that we have learned about?
Watercress
Where Are You From?
The Story of Sugar Beet Workers
Chuck Solano Oral History
Teacher’s Guide
- Review the slide deck to get informed with what sections you want to teach.
- This will get introduce you to the context of beet farmers and agricultural laborers in Fort Collins, Colorado.
For more background information:
Extension
Multimedia
“Romero, Mrs. Inez” (Oral History, April 14, 1975).
You could listen Inez’s oral history to have another perspective of a person who worked in the sugar beet fields in Fort Collins
Possible Inquiry Questions:
- What does this source say about how members of the Hispanic community understood their own labor?
- What does this source say about how other people saw the Hispanic community and how other people understood the labor of the Hispanic community?
- What does this source say about how members of the Hispanic community understood education and how this has changed?
- What does this source say about the wages of Hispanic laborers?
- What does this source say about the barriers Hispanic community members encountered regarding labor and education?
- What does this source say about the kinds of jobs Hispanic community members had access to?
- What does this source say about how gender impacted Hispanic labor?
- What does this source say about how language impacted Hispanic labor?
- What does this source say about blue-collar and white-collar Hispanic labor?
- What does this source say about poverty in working communities of Hispanics?
Field Trips
Guest Speakers
- Betty Aragon-Mitotes (Mujeres de Colores)
- Chuck Solano
