Dorothea Lange, National Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 - Oct. 15) comes on us so fast at the beginning of the school year that sometimes it doesn't get much attention. I just found some incredible photographs by Dorothea Lange in the California fields of the migratory Mexican farm workers.

Mexican picking melons in the Imperial Valley, California

 Children of migratory Mexican field workers. The older one helps tie carrots in the field. Coachella Valley, California. Feb. 1937

Migratory Mexican field worker's home on the edge of a frozen pea field. Imperial Valley, California

(If you look closely, you can see a girl peeking out of the doorway.)

Migratory Mexican field worker's home, March, 1937. Dorothea Lange

Lange also photographed workers arriving as part of the Braceros Program. We called them "guest workers," they called themselves enganchados, the "hooked ones." Here's more about the controversial Bracero Program.

First Braceros, 1942. Dorothea Lange

Want to teach your students about what it was like to be a child working alongside your parents in the California fields? Here's a great lesson plan, Children in the Fields:, by Theresa Chaides at Marquez Charter Elementary School.

Your Vote is Precious

I was about twelve when I asked my mother about this mysterious voting thing she did a couple times a year... getting dressed in one of her nice dresses, then walking with my father up to our local grammar school to vote. She told me all about voting, concluding with, "it's both your privilege and your obligation to vote."

Her words came back to me as I worked my book Marching for Freedom, about the Selma to Montgomery march for the vote. I discovered the incredible courage and conviction of the people of Selma who stood up for their right -- and every American's right -- to vote. Below: John Lewis after crossing the Selma bridge.

Both he and Amelia Boynton were at the Democratic Convention. Here's a video of John Lewis's inspiring, impassioned speech.

Amelia Boynton, 101 years old, was in the audience. She was an amazing, unstoppable force for the vote in Selma.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/amelia-boynton-robinson-dnc_n_1863273.html
 
And an earlier blog post of mine on crossing the bridge with Amelia Boynton and many others on the night of Obama's election. A true hero of mine.