The industrial forces and conditions of Massachusetts that awaited and attracted European immigrants were vastly different from those encountered by the more recent wave of Latino immigrants. This study seeks to compare and clarify what those forces and conditions were at three different times, especially in the small mill towns of Lowell, Lawrence, and Holyoke. The objective is to delineate a historical backdrop to allow an understanding of the present situation of Latinos in those cities and, to some extent, within the commonwealth of Massachusetts
