Agriculture

Special Report: ‘Dark days’ at the Cutchogue labor camp

(Credit: Courtesy of the Southold Historical Society, Southold, NY)
(Credit: Courtesy of the Southold Historical Society, Southold, NY)

SCHOOLING AT THE CAMP

The Cutchogue labor camp opened a small school for migrant children in 1949, marking a rare experiment in educating the children of impoverished families working the fields.

The camp’s school — then a 400-square-foot classroom carved out of the recreation room — was the first of its kind for migrant workers in New York State.

But that classroom was poorly maintained, wrote teacher Helen Prince, who worked at the camp for more than a decade.

In a detailed column printed by the Long Island Forum in 1989, Ms. Prince described a lack of school materials, a leaking sewer and an incident when a malfunctioning heater blew up in the classroom, covering her in soot.

She also said fights were common at the school, where students erupted into “rolling, fighting, pummeling groups” at the end of the school day. She later described how the president of the cooperative at the time responded to her complaints about the subpar conditions.

“But Helen,” he reportedly said. “You don’t have to teach them anything. You just have to keep order!” Still, Ms. Prince, who died last year, wrote that she did her best to provide an education for the children.

The school cycled through two other rooms before closing in 1962. Ms. Prince wrote that she often wondered about the “unfortunate children without hope for any kind of future.”

“One hauntingly beautiful young girl nags my Labor Camp memories,” she wrote. “She was quiet, totally withdrawn from her surroundings and rarely spoke. Maybe I should have sought to help her.”

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