Immigrant Workers in the Adirondacks

            In her article “The Hidden History,” Amy Godine argues that most historical accounts of the Adirondack Park ignore the importance of ethnic immigrant communities. By the early 19^th century, most of the labor force in the Adirondack was of foreign descent, as demonstrated by the observations of a Forestry School representative who wrote, “The American lumberjack is no longer seen in the Adirondack logging camps. The labor is almost entirely by foreigners- mostly Russian, Swedes, French-Canadians and Indians.” Though the general consensus among immigrant workers was that they were better off here than in their home countries, they were not openly accepted by native community members and lived in company-owned homes that were often comparable to city slums.

            Godine’s article made me wonder about the influence of immigrant workers in the Adirondacks today. In trying to answer this question, I stumbled upon the trailer for a documentary by Nancy Ghertner called “After I Pick the Fruit: The Lives of Migrant Women” (watch the trailer here). The film follows five immigrant women who work on farms in the Adirondacks during the summer and Florida in the winter. It highlights their struggles over a ten-year period to raise their families, make ends meat, and avoid being deported in immigration raids. Ghertner described her motives behind making the film saying, “I think when we classify them as undocumented aliens it takes away their humanity. In this film we want the viewer to feel the humanity of the people who are here, who are participating in our economy, and who are becoming members of our community.”

Both Ghertner and Godine shine a light on the often-overlooked immigrant population in the Adirondacks during different time periods. However, Ghertner’s account of present-day immigrants workers’ lives in the Adirondacks shows that they have a much more positive reception than in the past. While the immigrant workers still face an obscene amount of adversity, some of the Adirondack community members helped protect them by forming a group to look out for Immigration agents outside a Catholic church so the undocumented immigrants could safely attend mass inside. Some accounts of this noble behavior claim that the farmers’ motives for protecting the undocumented immigrants was purely because they are skilled workers on their farms, but I think they had much deeper motivations behind standing up for these women.

Sources:

“A Hidden History,” Amy Godine

 “After I Pick the Fruit: The Lives of Migrant Women,” Naj Wikoff; The Adirondack Almanack