Esperanza Rising

Esperanza was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico in 1918.

When Esperanza was 6 years old she walked through the vineyard with her father. They laid down on the ground and listened to the Earth's heartbeat.

Esperanza and her mother secretly leave the rancho to get away from Tio Luis.

Esperanza's Papa is killed by bandits the night before her 13th birthday.

The Mexican Repatriation refers to a forced return to Mexico of people of Mexican descent from the United States between 1929 and 1936

The Great Depression was an economic recession that began on October 29, 1929, following the crash of the U.S. stock market. The Great Depression originated in the United States, but quickly spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Lasting nearly a decade, the Depression caused massive levels of poverty, hunger, unemployment and political unrest.

The Dust Bowl was a series of periodic dust storms in the Midwestern prairies created by wind erosion of the soil. The Dust Bowl severely destroyed the ecology of the Midwest, while at the same time forcing a massive migration out of the Dust Bowl states, including Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, and Texas

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier.

Congress enacted the Emergency Labor Program — called the Bracero Program (brazos is the Spanish word for arms) — to allow temporary Mexican migrants into the United States to work in American industry
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