Growing a global village: making history at Seabrook Farms

Abstract

In the first half of the twentieth century, a small corner of southern New Jersey became the first and probably the only rural global village of its kind and size in America. Here, in a township that did not appear on most state maps, thousands of men, women, and children from more than 20 countries and speaking as many languages, most of them uprooted and displaced by war or poverty, came to work at what Life magazine called in 1955, 'the biggest vegetable factory in the world'. That factory was Seabrook Farms, which pioneered frozen vegetables for Clarence Birdseye and became the prime provider for America's fighting men in both World Wars and the free world's population as well. You can meet some of the people who worked and lived together harmoniously when multiculturalism wasn't even a word. This extraordinary population formed the base of a very remarkable food processing operation. Harrison has written a compelling study of the Seabrook Farms global village. Combining the technological history of agriculture and the social history of its labour force, Growing a Global Village offers a heartening and enlightening look at an important but little known episode in America's past.