Low-Wage Legacies, Race, and the Golden Chicken in Mississippi: Where Contemporary Immigration Meets African American Labor History

Abstract

While the poultry processing industry in the southern United States has undergone a radical restructuring over the past few decades, its recruitment of immigrant workers has contributed to an unprecedented presence of Latin Americans. Running parallel to these changes is the ongoing struggle of African Americans for equal economic opportunity. This essay considers the implications of demographic and cultural shifts in central Mississippi, where poultry has become the dominant employer and where immigration helps shape rural life. Mississippi's history and demographic profile make it a significant site for investigation. Here, unlike in many other recent immigration destinations in the US South, Latin American migrants are joining workplaces and communities whose majority is often African American. Centered upon Scott County, home of Mississippi's poultry industry (where the "Hispanic" population increased by over 1,000 percent from 1990 to 2000), this essay situates the present moment within histories of industrial restructuring, political economies of race, and local labor movements.