THE 1950s AZOREANS CONTEXT
José-Louis Jacome, May 18, 2020
​Demographic excess and precariousness
The two following abstracts from an article published in Portuguese Reviews, Vol. 12, by Carlos Cordeira and Artur Madeira (1), are key to understanding the precarious economic situation Azoreans were living in the decades preceding the first big wave of Portuguese immigration to Canada in the 1950s. To accompany these factual lines, all Azorean immigrants and their descendants have stories from their parents, families and friends about their day to day lives in the Azores. These stories add a meaningful and human dimension to numbers. In fact, we need booth, numbers and stories, to really understand the situation our ancestors have experienced. In my case, I have always wanted to put some numbers on the stories I heard from my parents and family. I was very happy to find the above article some years ago.
A sacho, a common tool to work the land. And, to me, a symbol of Azorean precariousness.
My father told me many times that he could not make a life in São Miguel because every day he did not know if he would work or not. Before leaving to Canada, he was earning a meagre 10-15 escudos for a hard and long work day, close to 50 cents. He also mentioned many times that camponeses like him would go to the rua das Rosas, upper street corner and wait every morning for the landlords who would go there to pick the workers they needed that day. Those not selected would go back home and come back the next morning. That was their life. My uncle Nicolino Laureano, also told me: ”those that had not worked for many days would put some piece of clothes on their shoulder, meaning they were in a critical situation.” The scene could be seen at hundreds of corners of villages across the Azores.
1947, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel. Azores.
My father, Manuel da Costa Jacome, third from the left and three of his friends, Manuel Pascoal, left, Jacinto Almeida, center and an unknown person, the only one wearing shoes.
Finally, my cousin Fernando Maré, still living in Ribeira Seca, told me a little story a couple of years ago. It says a lot about the precarious situation the majority of Micaelenses and Azoreans were living. His father “Tio Augusto” had some pieces of land, he was a landlord. He would hire several farm workers to work for him. Every day at noon, the workers would stop for lunch. They would find a shady area and eat their lean meal, usually some milk and corn bread, a bean soup or some fish on better days. One of them was leaving the group every day at lunch time, saying he was going to eat at home, nearby. One day, “Tio Augusto”, who was suspicious about this daily routine, asked his son Fernando to follow the worker and find out what he was really doing. Fernando followed the man and found out that he was only walking away a few hundred meters from the farm land and hiding near a shrub by the road side. He would wait there a while and come back to join the other workers who had finished their meal. In fact, the man was simply hiding from others at lunch time. He did not want them to know that he had no food to eat at lunch. “Tio Augusto” asked Fernando to give him some food from there on. The man was working hard full and long days
under the sun without any meal. We are in the late 1940s. Now, here are the facts from the Cordeiro and Madeira article.
Between 1900 and 1920, São Miguel’s population had decreased by 0.5 per year as a result of emigration. After and up to 1950, due to increasing emigration restrictions to the United States and Brazil, the 1930 crisis and the Second World War, the local population trend reversed, it was now growing significantly. According to a study done by Gilberta Pavão Nunes Rocha, University of the Azores, the first article abstract reveals that in three decades, from 1930 to 1950, São Miguel’s population grew from 111,770 to 164,136, a net increase of 52,366 people. This increase represents an average annual population growth of about 1.3% (2). In itself, this was a major challenge for an area with limited space and resources.
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A window of hope opened in the early 1950s, the United States and Canada were revising their immigration policies. Some 20,000 Portuguese emigrated in 1950, something that had not been seen since 1931. In 1952, to ease the unemployment in rural areas, the Ponta Delgada Government added some public works projects to its four year plan. But clearly, this could not solve the local unemployment issue by itself. That same year, the local government called Inspector Ferreira da Costa to organize the emigration of 40 Micaelense families to Brazil. Many Portuguese leaders, including Dr. Armando Cândido, Deputy representing the District of Ponta Delgada in Lisbon, were convinced that emigration, and not public works, was the solution to alleviate the “demographic excess” issue and its economic impact. For a while, he had been alerting everyone on this issue of great economic and social impact in the Azores but also in continental Portugal. The situation in the archipelago was worst than in continental Portugal. He had already suggested the central government could use some citizens to populate Portugal African colonies or immigrate to foreign countries. The US and Canada immigration policy discussions presented a new and great opportunity.
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The second abstract from the article focuses on yet another very important intervention of Dr. Cândido. In 1952, he did a key presentation at the National Assembly in Lisbon on the very crucial issue of demographic excess. He used a study done by Pedro Cymbron, also Deputy and President of the Ponta Delgada District, to demonstrate the urgency of the situation in São Miguel and bring really and concrete solutions. The study covered 30,400 local rural workers or camponeses. Citing Cymbron numbers, Dr. Cândido strongly made the point that some 2,800,000 days of work were available per year to farm workers in the island. Each worker could then expect to work an average of 92 days per year. Further, he said while 15 % of those workers have a guaranteed salary, meaning they will work the full year, 85 % could only work 3 ½ months a year. When I read these numbers I said to myself: “Now I understand how precarious was the situation for Micaelenses and Azoreans in the 1930-1950 decades. It was also almost as bad in continental Portugal. That same year, the Canadian Government passed a new Immigration Act that opened the country to immigrants from many countries including Portugal. That was the window of opportunity many Portuguese and Azoreans were waiting for. In May 1953, a first group of Portuguese immigrants left for Canada. The first wave of Portuguese immigration to Canada started with this event.
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In late 1953, the Central government responding to Dr. Armando Cândido efforts, added 800 Micaelenses to the number of Portuguese emigrants going to Canada. In 1954, a total of 950 Azoreans including this large contingent of Micaelenses embarqued on the Homeland (two trips) and Nea Hellas ships to Canada. My father, Manuel da Costa Jácome, was one of the 800. 1954, was definitely “O ano Micaelense”.
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In the following years and decades, thousands of Azoreans immigrated to Canada. That explains in part why the majority of Portuguese immigrants and their descendents living in Canada, mainly in the Toronto and Montreal areas, are from the Azores.
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References
1. Nos primórdios da emigração açoriana para o Canadá: Leituras e contextos Carlos Cordeiro Departamento de História, Filosofia e Ciências Sociais da Universidade dos Açores Artur Boavida Madeira († 2005) Departamento de História, Filosofia e Ciências Sociais da Universidade dos Açores.
2. Gilberta Pavão Nunes Rocha, Dynâmica Populacional dos Açores no século XX. Unidade, Permanência, Diversidade (Ponta Delgada; Universidade dos Açores).
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About the author
Born in São Miguel and living in Montreal since 1958, I published a book in 2018 about Azorean immigration to Canada in the 1950s. “De uma ilha para outra” was published in Portuguese and French. The book and an exhibition that accompanies it were presented in Montreal, São Miguel, Toronto and Boston. The book is sold in Montreal, Toronto and São Miguel, and through my Website. I continue to publish information and stories relating to the first big wave of Azorean and Portuguese immigration to Canada in the 1950s through my Website jljacome.com and my Facebook page D’une île à l’autre.