[2 articles]
Marching Through History with César Chávez
http://breezejmu.org/2009/04/27/marching-through-history-with-cesar-chavez/
April 27, 2009
By Anna Young, Managing Editor
Part one of a two-part series on photojournalist Cathy Murphy's work
with United Farm Workers
HARRISONBURG, Va. How many of us can say we have lived next door to
a revolutionary? How many of us were there during one of the most
monumental civil rights movements, documenting the struggles and
triumphs of a workers' revolution, as well as the personal life of
their legendary leader?
Cathy Murphy was a photojournalism student who lived next door to
César Chávez during the United Farm Workers strikes and the Thousand
Mile March in the mid-1970s in California.
"One of my goals in life was to make some kind of social justice
through my photography," Murphy said.
Chávez, a Mexican American farm worker and civil rights activist,
dedicated his life to helping disenfranchised and mistreated migrant
workers and fighting against child labor in the fields of California
until his death in 1993.
"César Chávez was a fabulous organizer, he was a grassroots
organizer," Murphy said. "He spent years doing that in a struggle to
get the farm workers union going, getting people involved, telling
people that by joining together, they would have power to make
changes for social justice."
The mountain community of "La Paz," the United Farm Workers
headquarters in Keene, Calif., boasted little more than several small
houses scattered along a dirt road and an old hospital habituated by
UFW volunteers. It was here that Murphy cultivated her relationship
with the Chávez family, as her and her young son were neighbors with
Chávez. Although Murphy rarely interrupted Chávez while he was at
home, she got to know his wife, Helen, and his son, Paul, his
daughter, Anna, and Anna's husband, Richard.
"I became close with the family and César trusted me and he invited
me to go with him to family functions and photograph his family," Murphy said.
Just as the grapes were ripening in the fields in the summer of 1975,
Chávez led the Thousand Mile March, a procession full of rallies and
protests that began at the U.S.-Mexico border and ended at the UFW
headquarters.
"César was walking the highways and going into communities all along
the way, telling workers in the field they finally had their right to
organize and to vote for union representation," Murphy said.
Murphy first photographed Chávez while she was a student at Brooks
Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif., working for a
local newspaper. "César was hard to see as he was short and
surrounded by security guards with two large German shepherds in
front of him," Murphy once wrote. "I moved quickly into the line, in
front of César and behind the dogs, and took my first photograph of
César while walking backwards on the highway. César looked me in the
eye but said nothing."
Because the photographer for UFW quit, Chávez asked if he could see
the photographs Murphy had taken for the Santa Barbara News and Review.
From that point on, Murphy worked as a photographer for the United
Farm Workers. She spent 58 days walking 20 miles of highway a day
through rural California, documenting the Thousand Mile March. After
the march, Murphy spent more than two years in the fields with
migrant workers of all ages, including young children, photographing
their living and working conditions.
The photographs of the farm workers, the Thousand Mile March and the
professional and personal sides of Chávez have made their way to JMU
and are now featured in the Prism Gallery in the lower level of
Festival through Friday.
Murphy's "March Through History with César Chávez" photo-documentary
exhibit contains more than 40 monotone photos taken between 1975 and 1976.
The exhibit "shows many sides of Chávez that many people may not be
familiar with," said Melanie Brimhall, the director of education for
the Madison Art Collection. "It particularly shows the personal side
of him: walking with children, with his dogs, doing yoga, the fact
that he followed Gandhi so closely… it shows the painful moments
where he was in thought agonizing over whether or not to cause a
strike knowing that people had already been shot and killed for
striking. When he would call a strike he knew he was sending these
people into harm's way and that must have weighed heavily on him and
you can see that in these photographs."
In addition to portraying the more personal moments of Chávez's life,
the collection also contains portraits of child laborers and migrant workers.
"It's one thing to read about the United Farm Workers and that
movement in textbooks but it's another thing to come and look at
these photographs," Brimhall said. "To see Lupita, the child who was
working in the fields, in her socks and holding a pesticide bucket
while she was gathering onions, and to see the man who fell from a
lemon tree and couldn't get medical care and lost a limb; the stories
and the pictures you see, the pain in their faces, add the personal
side of that whole movement."
Although there are more than 100 photographs in the entire
collection, the Prism Gallery can hold only around 40 frames. Murphy
had to prioritize which photos were most important for telling the
story of Chávez, the movement and the farm workers.
"There were a few that needed to be in there," said Murphy, speaking
of the photo of Chávez doing yoga. "It shows his commitment to
nonviolence: He became vegetarian, he quit smoking and drinking and
he practiced yoga."
Murphy came to JMU for the unveiling of the Prism Gallery exhibit on
March 31, Chávez's birthday. She spent a week in Harrisonburg, where
she made a number of appearances, including at two radio stations:
WMRA and the local Hispanic station, La Gran D.
Although she was slated to give only three presentations as a JMU
visiting scholar, Murphy gave 11 lectures around JMU and
Harrisonburg. "When she got here everyone kept clamoring for her to
speak with them," Brimhall said. "She carried on back-to-back
sessions just so she could talk to everyone who wanted to hear her."
Murphy's photo-documentary was brought to JMU because it fulfills the
need for education and diversity, for which the gallery was created,
according to Brimhall. "We were looking for exhibits on diverse
cultures and a broad view of humanity for the Prism Gallery," she
said. "It touched on so many different groups and programs on campus
and within our community." The gallery also reaches out to
Harrisonburg's Hispanic residents "to encourage them to come on
campus and to see our university," Brimhall said.
The exhibit was also brought to JMU because Chávez was recently added
to the third grade curriculum as part of Virginia public schools'
Standards of Learning requirements, and the gallery hosts more than
4,000 kindergarten through 12-grade students a year, according to
Kathryn Stevens, Madison Art Collection Director.
Brimhall added the exhibit also appeals to JMU's education majors,
photography and photojournalism students, as well as teachers and
professors. "Because he's Californian, a lot of people in Virginia
just haven't heard of César Chávez," Stevens said. "And of course a
lot of our teachers are younger so they don't even remember the '70s
and the protests."
Said Murphy: "It's a traveling exhibit, and the more places it is…
The more people who find out about Chávez, the better, particularly
in this area. I think there are a lot of students who have never
heard of César Chávez before."
--
Contact Anna Young at breezepress@gmail.com
--
View the slideshow here.
http://breezejmu.org/2009/04/27/slideshow-marching-through-history-with-cesar-chavez/
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Preserving Chavez's legacy
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/preserving-chavez-s-legacy-1.1637615
Council, president of United Farm Workers honor union founder's life, work
Priscilla Totiyapungprasert
Daily Texan Staff
Published: Wednesday, April 1, 2009
More than 40 years ago, Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers
of America to bring farm workers' rights to the public and
legislative forefront. Despite improvement, some of the same problems
of the 1960s still persist today, said union president Arturo Rodriguez.
Rodriguez spoke Tuesday evening at the Texas Union Ballroom during a
Cesar Chavez Day celebration about immigration reform and the future
of farm workers' rights. The Mexican American Culture Committee
hosted the event.
"Undocumented workers make up 80 percent of the agricultural
workforce, or 1.6 million people," Rodriguez said. "They get taken
advantage of by people of power."
Earlier in the day, as part of the celebration, members of the Latino
Leadership Council stood in silence as part of the celebration on the
steps of UT Tower with their mouths covered by strips of red or white cloth.
Journalism senior Brenda Menchaca said Chavez struggled for not only
for farmers' rights but for other marginalized individuals as well.
"The covered mouths represent the voices of those who have been
traditionally silenced people of color, farmers, women and people
of low-economic status," said Cindy Quintanilla, a spokeswoman for the council.
The percentage of undocumented workers living in the U.S. surged in
the 1970s during a time of high unemployment in Mexico and as farmers
left the agricultural field to work in casinos, restaurants and in
less labor-intensive jobs, Rodriguez said. Maquiladoras, or factories
along the border in such cities as Tijuana, Montemorelos and
Brownsville, were abandoned when companies looked to China for cheape labor.
This left growers needing inexpensive labor, Rodriguez said.
"[Undocumented workers] are always living in fear of being caught, so
they don't gripe or bring attention to themselves," Rodriguez said.
"They live in the shadows because they don't want people to know
they're there."
The AgJOBS legislation which has not passed in Congress proposes
providing undocumented workers the opportunity to participate in an
earned-legalization program. The program would grant seasonal farm
workers temporary legal status. After working for a period of time,
the workers could then apply for legal citizenship.
The Latino Leadership Council has assailed major fast food chains for
buying tomatoes supplied by businesses accused of abusing farm workers.
These businesses employ farmers, a majority of whom are
Mexican-American, to work in exchange for payment does not cover the
standard cost of living, said history senior Jay Guevara.
After speaking with President Barack Obama several times, Rodriguez
said the president has been supportive of the laborers' cause and
that Obama has appointed staff members who are also supportive,
including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Labor
Hilda Solis and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
He also applauded Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for spending
time living with families in the Rio Grande Valley. Rodriguez said he
believes the Obama administration will take the necessary steps to
help improve farmers' lives.
Laura Gamez, the committee's president and a public relations junior,
said she hopes those who attended the event left with a better
understanding of misconceptions surrounding the conditions of
immigrant farm laborers.
"Farmers are one of the hardest working people in country, and they
get no respect," Rodriguez said. "They came here to improve their
standard of living, feed their children and follow the American Dream
they're not terrorists; they're not here to destruct our lifestyle."
At the event, Rodriguez told the story of Maria Vasquez Jimenez, a
17-year-old worker who traveled from Oaxaca, Mexico, to work on a
California farm. She collapsed after suffering from heat stress and
thirst. Two hours after the collapse, she was taken to the hospital
at her boyfriend's insistence. She died later that day.
The young woman was the first of six workers there, both documented
and undocumented, to die from heat stress, Rodriguez said.
Despite the abuses farm workers continue to suffer, Rodriguez said,
the U.S. has made strong improvements in labor reform since Chavez
founded the union.
Some of these improvements include enforcing minimum wage law,
establishing farm workers' rights to representation, forming a
pension plan for seasonal workers and creating the Robert F. Kennedy
medical plan to provide benefits to seasonal workers and their families.
"Chavez was a committed and passionate man who could speak to the
workers and then go speak to the governor," Rodriguez said. "But what
he enjoyed the most was sitting down with the workers and listening
to their concerns, their stories."
The protesters also voiced their stance on Texas' top 10 percent law,
which grants state-university admission to public high school
students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their classes.
Though UT President William Powers has said on previous occasions he
favors a top 10 percent admissions cap, Quintanilla said the cap
would be detrimental for minorities.
Affirmative action is a small factor in admissions, Quintanilla said.
"Without other actions in place, such as the top 10 percent rule,
underrepresented students will not have the same chance to get into a
tier-one university," Quintanilla said.
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