overall: 1 3/4 in x 9 in x 2 in; 4.445 cm x 22.86 cm x 5.08 cm
Object Name:
Toothpaste
Place made:
United States
Associated Place:
United States: California, Los Angeles
United States: California, Los Angeles
Date made:
Late 20th Century
1990s
Description:
This toothpaste was sold at the El Monte company store. Shop operators forced workers to buy food and personal items from them at inflated prices. The toothpaste was seized during a well-publicized 1995 sweatshop raid and is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location:
Currently not on view
Credit Line:
U.S. Department of Justice. Immigration and Naturalization Service
