Carl & Lucille Moore in their Backyard at Moore Camp, Wayland

Carl Moore was the "crew leader" for Roy Gibson's farm near Wayland, NY. What this title meant is that he served as an intermediary between farmer and migrant farmworkers: he recruited them (from Florida) and bused them up to New York; their wages from Gibson passed through Moore. Most crew leaders were notorious for exploiting workers by overcharging them for groceries and liquor; often, they deployed a couple of enforcers to maintain their power. Moore had a reputation as an unusually fair crew leader. In a 1981 article, Donna Balanger, Director of the Wayland Migrant Day Care Center, was quoted as saying that "The camp is more tightly run and the crew boss is fair with his people. What they earn, they get" (Peg Gallagher, "Migrant Workers," Elmira Star-Gazette 25 Oct. 1981: 5B).

Boettger, Elizabeth

Steuben County Historical Society

Photograph

7 x 5 in.