Ignacio Ornelas Rodriguez, historian of civil rights and social justice movements, is joined by photographer David Bacon
Bracero and Guestworker Programs: A Look at Bay Area Farm Labor
Both men are deeply involved in efforts to secure human rights for migrant laborers and document their history. Rodriquez is an historian who conducts research on civil rights, social justice movements and electoral politics. He is a lecturer at Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies on Race and Ethnicity. He also works with the San Jose Unified School District, developing curricula and teaching courses in the social sciences. Rodriquez has also led seminars for high school students on international security with Stanford’s Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education. He previously worked in Stanford’s Department of Special Collections and University Archives.
David Bacon is a writer and photographer, former factory worker and union organizer. His latest books are More Than a Wall/Mas que un muro (Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2023, and In the Fields of the North/En los campos del norte (University of California/Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2017). Both books document border communities and farmworkers in photographs and oral histories. Bacon is co-chair of Guild Freelancers, the freelance unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, CWA Local 39521. He was board chair of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights and has been an activist for immigrant labor for many years. An exhibit of his photos will be on view at the Global Museum, San Francisco State University, October 8 to December 3, 2023.