On October 16 at 7:00 p.m. in Mara Auditorium on the campus, Gettysburg College will host a screening and panel discussion honoring Hispanic Heritage Month and the vital contributions of migrant workers, with the event serving as the culmination of the college’s monthlong celebrations. The centerpiece is an award-winning documentary produced in partnership with PBS and Latino Public Broadcasting that examines the often-overlooked labor of migrant workers across the Western United States.
Sociology Department Chair, Professor Cassie Hays, spearheaded the effort to bring the film to campus, saying the screening and panel will highlight how migrants remain foundational to the country. “Many diverse peoples have contributed to the development of the United States,” Hays said. “All of those communities’ histories and traditions ought to be honored. Historically, this nation has depended on immigration and the idea of a ‘melting pot,’ regardless of whether or not that melting pot has produced fruit.”
Anthropologist Noam Osband produced the documentary as part of his dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania; since its release it has screened at numerous festivals and received critical praise. The film illuminates the crucial role migrant workers play in the reforestation of the West Coast and raises questions about environmental impacts within the forest products industry—an area of interest for Hays given her background in environmental science and environmental sociology.
Hays noted a local connection that makes the screening especially timely: Pennsylvania is consistently among the nation’s top apple producers, and the surrounding region ranks high in fruit production. “Agriculture here depends on a large number of people working directly in the fields and orchards,” she said. “Many of those workers and the associated communities have their roots in immigration from Latin America.”
The event is intended to resonate with South Central Pennsylvania’s vibrant Hispanic and Latinx community by drawing parallels between labor in western forest plantations and eastern fruit orchards. “We have a community here doing work that parallels the work of migrant laborers across the country,” Hays said. “That’s why this film seemed like a perfect fit for our campus and community; it helps us better understand not only national patterns but also the lived realities in our own region.”
Although the Sociology Department is not offering a course exclusively on migration this semester, themes of immigration and labor are central to the curriculum. Hays is teaching a course on race and ethnicity in which migration figures prominently in discussions of how race is socially constructed in the United States. “It’s not only about voluntary migration or people coming here with the dream of the American Dream, but also about those who were forcibly brought here during the era of slavery,” she said.
The screening and panel are a collaborative effort across multiple departments and programs, including the Center for Public Service and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The Center for Public Service maintains strong ties to local organizations that serve the Hispanic and Latinx community, including the Migrant Education Program, CASA, and the bilingual charter school, VIDA.
Featured image: Cassie Hays