History major Odalis Aguilar-Aguilar met with the Oregon House Committee on Business and Labor on March 29, 2021 to give a historically informed testimony in support of a new farmworkers’ rights bill. House Bill 2358 prohibits employers from permitting or requiring agricultural workers to work in excess of 40 hours in one workweek unless workers are compensated for overtime hours worked.

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Odalis Aguilar-Aguilar is a third-year student at the UO, majoring in history, Latin American studies, and Spanish. Her testimony touches on her own family’s experience with agricultural work and also draws Aguilar-Aguilar’s academic research. Working with Julie Weise, associate professor of history, Aguilar-Aguilar has studied the Bracero farm worker program and the personal histories of migrant families.

Learn more about Aguilar-Aguilar’s work in this Around the O feature, Untold Stories.