Everything about Harvest Of Shame totally explained
Harvest of Shame is a
1960 made for television documentary presented by broadcast journalist
Edward R. Murrow on
CBS. It shows the plight of
American migrant agricultural workers.
"Harvest of Shame" was an installment of the venerable documentary series
CBS Reports, widely seen as a successor to Murrow and
Fred W. Friendly's 1951-58
See It Now show. (Friendly was executive producer of
CBS Reports, of which Murrow was an occasional host.) Murrow and Friendly's colleague
Ed Morgan had taken up the issue during his
CBS Radio Network commentaries. Murrow biographer Joe Persico says Friendly decided the issue was a natural for Murrow, long seen as a champion of the oppressed.
While Murrow and Friendly are often seen as the forces behind the show, broadcast historians such as the late Edward Bliss, Jr. have also given credit to "Harvest of Shame" producer/reporter David Lowe. Lowe did much of the legwork, including a number of the interviews featured on the installment.
The program originally aired just after Thanksgiving 1960. The Dec. 5, 1960 edition of
Time quoted producer Lowe as saying, "We felt that by scheduling the program the day after Thanksgiving, we could stress the fact that much of the food cooked for Thanksgiving throughout the country was picked by migratory workers. We hoped that the pictures of how these people live and work would shock the consciousness of the nation."
It opened and closed with lines that were pure Murrow. The opening was voiced over footage of migrant workers, including a number of
African-Americans, being recruited:
» This scene isn't taking place in the Congo. It has nothing to do with Johannesburg or Cape Town. It isn't Nyasaland or Nigeria. This is Florida. These are citizens of the United States, 1960. This is a shape-up for migrant workers. The hawkers are chanting the going piece rate at the various fields. This is the way the humans who harvest the food for the best-fed people in the world get hired. One farmer looked at this and said, "We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them."
The closing:
» The migrants have no lobby. Only an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion can do anything about the migrants. The people you've seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They don't have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do. Good night, and good luck."Further Information
Get more info on 'Harvest Of Shame'.
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