The 4.7 million Chicanos in the Southwest in 1970 contributed significantly to the local labor supply; yet, they had substantially smaller incomes and greater unemployment than area Anglos. Although Chicanos have moved steadily from unskilled to skilled labor occupations and have entered white collar occupations, they continue to be employed in…

Written for young people, this book traces the accomplishments of Cesar Chavez, a labor leader who fought to improve the lives of Mexican-American farmworkers in California. Chavez was born in 1927 in the Gila Valley, Arizona. When Chavez was 10, his family lost their farm and was forced to move to California and become migrant workers. Chavez and…

This book elucidates the amazing life journeys of academically successful migrant students. Most literature on Hispanic students--especially the children of migrant farm workers who have been referred to as the "invisible children," or the children of "ghost workers"--has focused on the sociocultural factors that have contributed to their low…

Ricky is an 11-year-old migrant worker. During the summer, he travels with his family from their home in Rio Grande City, Texas, to farms farther north. There they spend 10-12 hours a day in the hot sun picking fruit and vegetables and packing the harvest for market. Ricky is not protected by the federal laws that govern the hours, wages, and…

Since the late 1970s, California's rural poor (frequently immigrants and refugees) have been engaged in grassroots efforts to change the cultural and political landscapes of their communities. Told in the words of rural people, this book presents six stories of struggle and empowerment. In Yuba City, Latino and East Indian farmworkers felt that…

This book relates the fictional story of Juanita Chavez, a Mexican-American teenager who unjustly faces expulsion from school after fighting with a White student who was spreading rumors about her family. Juanita knows that if she is expelled this will greatly disappoint her parents and shatter her dream of becoming the first one in her family to…

Based on oral histories and archival documents, this book reconstructs the unwritten history of the Mexican-origin community of Santa Paula, California. This previously unwritten history contrasts sharply with the official version, which focuses on Anglo American accomplishments and excludes the area's earliest settlers and longest…