''H-2 Worker'' is a 1990

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour **Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery **Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploita ...

of Jamaican guest workers in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

's sugar cane industry. It was directed by

Stephanie Black Stephanie Black is an American documentary film director and producer. She resides in New York City. Her award-winning film works include ''H-2 Worker'', which documents the more than 10,000 Caribbean men brought to Florida each year under a tempo ...

, and won the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Grand Jury Prize for documentaries in the 1990 festival. It was shot in Belle Glade, Clewiston, and

Okeelanta, Florida Okeelanta is an unincorporated community in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located approximately 4 miles (7 km) south of South Bay on U.S. Route 27 at County Road 827. It was originally developed as a planned community in the 19 ...

, as well as

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and includes cane fields and worker camps (Ritta Village, Prewitt Village) owned by

US Sugar Corporation U.S. Sugar Corporation is a privately owned agricultural business based in Clewiston, Florida. The company farms over 230,000 acres of land in the counties of Hendry, Glades, Martin, and Palm Beach. It is the largest producer of sugarcane in ...

and the Okeelanta Corporation. The cane harvesters were brought in to perform the autumn harvest of sugar cane under the

H-2A visa An H-2A visa allows a foreign national worker into the United States for temporary agricultural work. There are several requirements of the employer in regard to this visa. The H-2A temporary agricultural program establishes a means for agricu ...

program. The Jamaicans replaced earlier generations of Bahamian seasonal workers who in turn replaced migrant labor recruited from the Cotton Belt in the first half of the 20th century. A documentary short that accompanies the DVD version of the film states that human labor was abandoned for mechanical harvesters in 1992. The film features interviews with a United States Department of Labor official, a Florida Sugar Cane League official, Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, local merchants, and a dozen or so field workers. It also includes footage of César Chávez, US Representative

Thomas Downey Thomas Joseph Downey (born January 28, 1949) is an American attorney, lobbyist and former politician who served as a U.S. Representative for New York's 2nd congressional district from 1975 to 1993. Early life and education Downey was born in Q ...

, and US Senator

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. He served three terms as a Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey (1979–1997). He ran for the Democratic Party's nomination f ...

References

External links

* 1990 films 1990 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about agriculture in the United States Documentary films about the labor movement Films set in Florida Films shot in Florida History of sugar Documentary films about Florida 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Sundance Film Festival award-winning films {{environment-documentary-film-stub