Category:Farm Security Administration migratory labor camps

From Report of the Administrator of the Farm Security Administrator, 1940, pp. 15–16:

Migrant Camps

The migratory-labor camps are an effort to solve some of the problems of a particular group of low-income farm families — the migrant agricultural workers. Designed to provide a minimum of shelter and sanitary facilities for migrant farm families, these camps are located in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida — the States which have the most serious migrant problems. At the present time, 56 camps either have been completed or are under construction. When completed, these camps will accommodate a total of 13,205 families at any one time. Both temporary shelters and a small number of permanent homes are provided at the camps. Shelters and tent platforms number 11,476. The platforms are wooden or concrete bases, on which the migrant families can pitch their own tents; and the shelters usually are one-room metal or wooden structures. The 1,729 permanent labor homes are inexpensive houses with small garden plots.

A typical camp consists of a group of community buildings which house washrooms, laundries, showers, toilets, isolation wards, first-aid stations and a meeting place. Grouped around the community center are the shelters, and located nearby are the labor homes. A manager, employed by the Government, is in charge of each camp; but a council elected by the residents handles most matters of camp government.

Mobile camps mark the newest development in this field.

Between 1942 and 1944, some FSA camps housed Japanese-Americans who were employed in seasonal farm labor, predominantly in the sugar beet industry.

• Uprooted: Japanese American Farm Labor Camps during World War II