Graig MantleA girl in a striped outfit stands next to a large cardboard box, smiling directly into the camera. Slightly out of focus behind her stretch the unplanted rows of a field, and a group of workers going about their business.
This is the first image visitors see when viewing “Viva la Causa! A Decade of Farm Labor Organizing on the Central Coast,” by Manuel Echavarria. The exhibit is on display in the Robert E. Kennedy Library in honor of labor organizer Cesar Chavez.
As the first photographic record of farm workers documented by one of their own, “Viva la Causa” is a striking record of a rarely told piece of Central Coast history.
“We are passionate about having a minority voice in public institutions,” said Catherine J. Trujillo, the curator of the traveling collection. “We wanted to show history too. Many don’t realize the struggle on the Central Coast was integral to the change in national working conditions.”
Echavarria grew up working in the fields until he was 15 years old. In the mid-1960s he earned his G.E.D. Later he gained inspiration from the antiwar protests of Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement, and decided to photograph the struggles he and his fellow workers went through to gain better working conditions and pay.
Echavarria chose to use a simple 35-millimeter camera and black and white film. Although untrained, he has a natural eye for photography that makes each photo powerful and unique.
For 30 years, the film remained undeveloped because Echavarria could never afford to print the photographs. When he donated the negatives to the Special Collections department of the Kennedy Library in 1999, they wanted to publish them for the public. “Viva la Causa” is a small offshoot of that original collection developed for public viewing.
Among the photographs is one that particularly touched Trujillo when she first viewed the collection. A group of older labor organizers sit in a row against a wall. The photo is slightly dark, their faces not completely visible. Behind them on the wall is a large poster of Robert Kennedy, who had been assassinated shortly before the photo was taken. Kennedy had been very active in minority rights, and the men had obviously placed the poster to honor him.
“I saw that (photo).that symbolized the hard work they were doing, and that they had a nation behind them,” Trujillo said.
The photos also show a laborer’s job, including the use of the “el cortito,” a short-handled hoe that usually injured the workers’ backs. The tool required a worker to stand for hours bent over at the waist. In 1975, thanks to the United Farm Workers, the use of “el cortito” was banned.
“(The exhibit) is very interesting and not something a lot of people hear about,” said computer engineering junior Daniel Nelson, looking at a photo of workers picketing a local sidewalk. “A lot of history avoids these topics of laborers and migrant workers.”
The purpose of the exhibit is to stimulate further interest in the multicultural history of the area, and to inspire its viewers to look for other points of view, Trujillo said.
After its time here, the exhibit will travel to colleges and other locations throughout California. It will return periodically to Cal Poly, although the dates are currently unscheduled.
Although it officially ended on April 6, the exhibit will be running for approximately another week. The public may view the exhibit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays. The original photographs are also available in the Special Collections department of Kennedy Library for use by students and faculty, and can be seen at any time.