The Farmworkers’ Journey


Book Description

Illuminating the dark side of economic globalization, this book gives an insider's view of the migrant farmworkers' binational circuit that stretches from the west central Mexico countryside to central California. Useful for all Americans, "The Farmworkers' Journey" traces the human consequences of our policy decisions.




The Farmworkers' Journey


Book Description

Illuminating the dark side of economic globalization, this book gives an insider's view of the migrant farmworkers' binational circuit that stretches from the west central Mexico countryside to central California. Useful for all Americans, "The Farmworkers' Journey" traces the human consequences of our policy decisions.




Journey for Justice


Book Description

This book, written by historian Dawn Bohulano Mabalon with writer Gayle Romasanta, richly illustrated by Andre Sibayan, tells the story of Larry Itliong's lifelong fight for a farmworkers union, and the birth of one of the most significant American social movements of all time, the farmworker's struggle, and its most enduring union, the United Farm Workers.




Becoming Dr. Q


Book Description

Today he is known as Dr. Q, an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who leads cutting-edge research to cure brain cancer. But not too long ago, he was Freddy, a nineteen-year-old undocumented migrant worker toiling in the tomato fields of central California. In this gripping memoir, Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa tells his amazing life story—from his impoverished childhood in the tiny village of Palaco, Mexico, to his harrowing border crossing and his transformation from illegal immigrant to American citizen and gifted student at the University of California at Berkeley and at Harvard Medical School. Packed with adventure and adversity—including a few terrifying brushes with death—Becoming Dr. Q is a testament to persistence, hard work, the power of hope and imagination, and the pursuit of excellence. It’s also a story about the importance of family, of mentors, and of giving people a chance.




Chasing the Harvest


Book Description

Lives from an invisible community—the migrant farmworkers of the United States The Grapes of Wrath brought national attention to the condition of California’s migrant farmworkers in the 1930s. Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers’ grape and lettuce boycotts captured the imagination of the United States in the 1960s and ’70s. Yet today, the stories of the more than 800,000 men, women, and children working in California’s fields—one third of the nation’s agricultural work force—are rarely heard, despite the persistence of wage theft, dangerous working conditions, and uncertain futures. This book of oral histories makes the reality of farm work visible in accounts of hardship, bravery, solidarity, and creativity in California’s fields, as real people struggle to win new opportunities for future generations. Among the narrators: Maricruz, a single mother fired from a packing plant after filing a sexual assault complaint against her supervisor. Roberto, a vineyard laborer in the scorching Coachella Valley who became an advocate for more humane working conditions after his teenage son almost died of heatstroke. Oscar, an elementary school teacher in Salinas who wants to free his students from a life in the fields, the fate that once awaited him as a child.




The Most Costly Journey


Book Description

The Most Costly Journey is a non-fiction comics anthology presenting stories of survival and healing told by Latin American migrant farmworkers in Vermont, and drawn by New England cartoonists as part of the El Viaje Más Caro project - a health care outreach effort aimed at addressing the overlooked mental health needs of these vulnerable immigrants. Originally distributed to farm workers as individual Spanish language comic books, this collected edition brings the lives and voices - as well as the challenges and hardships - of these workers to an English-language audience, granting insight into the experiences and lives of the people vital to producing the food we eat.Featuring a foreword by Julia Alvarez (Afterlife), introduction by Stephen R. Bissette (Swamp Thing), preface by project founder, nurse Julia Doucet, and an afterword by Teresa Mares and Andy Kolovos, these inspiring stories grapple with issues encountered by migrant workers everywhere-isolation, separation, depression, substance abuse-even as they celebrate resilience, family, community, and the ability of each storyteller to direct their own healing narrative. The Most Costly Journey is a gripping work that draws together non-fiction cartooning, graphic medicine and anthropology, channeling the skills of health care practitioners, artists and ethnographers into helping alleviate the pain of others.Featuring work by cartoonists Marek Bennett, Angela Boyle, John Carvajal, Glynnis Fawkes, Gregory C. Giordano, Kevin Kite, Kayn Lynch, Shash Mishra, Michelle Sayles, Michael Tonn, Ezra Veitch, Rick Veitch, Tillie Walden, Iona Fox and Teppi Zuppo.




Reaching for the Stars


Book Description

The book that inspired the new film A Million Miles Away. Born into a family of migrant workers, toiling in the fields by the age of six, Jose M. Hernàndez dreamed of traveling through the night skies on a rocket ship. Reaching for the Stars is the inspiring story of how he realized that dream, becoming the first Mexican-American astronaut. Hernàndez didn't speak English till he was 12, and his peers often joined gangs, or skipped school. And yet, by his twenties he was part of an elite team helping develop technology for the early detection of breast cancer. He was turned down by NASA eleven times on his long journey to donning that famous orange space suit. Hernàndez message of hard work, education, perseverance, of "reaching for the stars," makes this a classic American autobiography.




Lettuce Wars


Book Description

In 1971, Bruce Neuburger—young, out of work, and radicalized by the 60s counterculture in Berkeley—took a job as a farmworker on a whim. He could have hardly anticipated that he would spend the next decade laboring up and down the agricultural valleys of California, alongside the anonymous and largely immigrant workforce that feeds the nation. This account of his journey begins at a remarkable moment, after the birth of the United Farm Workers union and the ensuing uptick in worker militancy. As a participant in organizing efforts, strikes, and boycotts, Neuburger saw first-hand the struggles of farmworkers for better wages and working conditions, and the lengths the growers would go to suppress worker unity. Part memoir, part informed commentary on farm labor, the U.S. labor movement, and the political economy of agriculture, Lettuce Wars is a lively account written from the perspective of the fields. Neuburger portrays the people he encountered—immigrant workers, fellow radicals, company bosses, cops and goons—vividly and indelibly, lending a human aspect to the conflict between capital and labor as it played out in the fields of California.




Larry Itliong Leads the Way for Farmworkers' Rights


Book Description

Explores the history, events, and aftermath of Larry Itliong's role in the fight for farmworkers' rights. Through insightful text, “In Their Own Words” special features, and critical thinking questions, this title will introduce readers to a historic example of social activism.




Cesar Chavez


Book Description

As a child, Cesar Chavez worked on farms with his family. He felt the workers were not treated well. Cesar used his voice to become a leader in making sure farm workers were paid better and treated fairly.