‘In His Own Words’: UTEP exhibit explores life of civil rights leader César Chávez
César Chávez once said he devoted his life to defeating a farm labor system that treated workers as if they didn’t matter.
"Farmworkers are not agricultural implements," he said in a 1984 speech reprinted in Ilan Stavans’ "César Chávez, a Photographic Essay" (Cinco Puntos Press). "They are not beasts of burden — to be used and discarded."
The farmworker organizer and civil rights leader died in 1993 but continues to inspire.
Chávez’s legacy and achievements are documented in "In His Own Words: The Life and Work of César Chávez," a Humanities Texas traveling exhibition that opens today for a three-month stop at the University of Texas at El Paso Centennial Museum. A public reception is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
"This exhibition fits right in line with the kinds of things I envision the museum doing," museum director W. Warner "Bill" Wood said. "The exhibit works biographically to examine his life and gives you an insight into the man as a leader, and as a human being."
"In His Own Words" features 38 photographs and excerpts from Chávez’s speeches, interviews and writings.
Chávez, born on a farm in Yuma, Ariz., dedicated himself to community organizing and later founded the first farmworkers’ union after first experiencing the hardships of migrant farm labor and racial discrimination.
Marshall Carter-Tripp, the previous and now retired museum director, tagged the Chávez exhibition as something that would be appropriate for the museum and El Paso. Chávez often spoke on behalf of clothing manufacturing workers and others in the El Paso region.
"I just picked it up and ran with it," Wood said. "It’s a well researched, well done exhibit that highlights, through top-notch photographs and quotes from César Chávez, his life’s achievements."
Wood saw the exhibit as an opportunity to partner with Museo Urbano and Border Farmworker Center in South El Paso.
Various ideas are being discussed, including a smaller companion exhibition in South El Paso and the possibility of bringing Dolores Huerta for a lecture.
Huerta worked side by side with Chávez in organizing farmworkers. She is equally regarded as an important civil rights leader who also worked to improve the lives of farmworkers in the United States.
Wood credited Miguel Juarez, an instructor and doctoral student in history at UTEP, with helping connect the museum with community leaders such as Carlos Marentes, the director of the Farmworker Center.
Wood tells visitors the Chávez exhibit is a welcomed temporary addition to the museum, traditionally a science museum in the past. The Chávez exhibition will be up until Dec. 3.
"César Chávez is an important person in the nation, an important person internationally for workers’ rights, and an important person in the history of El Paso and the region," he said.
President Clinton awarded Chávez the Medal of Freedom, one of the nation’s highest civilian awards.
Yolanda Chávez Leyva, head of the UTEP history department, pointed out the Museo Urbano, which she helped organize, is co-sponsoring the Chávez exhibition.
Leyva described Chávez as a role model for nonviolent change and one of the nation’s leading civil, labor and human rights organizers. She applauded Chávez for a 1988 hunger strike, which focused attention on the effects of pesticides on farmworkers and their children and for inspiring college students to join the cause.
Over the years, many El Pasoans have worked in the fields of Texas, New Mexico and California.
"This is a community that understands the tremendous benefit that our society receives from agricultural workers — their hard work puts food on our tables," Leyva said. "We also understand the exploitation, poor working conditions and low pay that accompany farm work. César Chávez is part of our story on the frontera."
Ramón Rentería may be reached at rrenteria@elpasotimes.com; 546-6146.