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Farm Workers

View of a line of Mexican farm workers on a truck farm between Fort Garland and Blanca, Colorado.

View of an alfalfa harvest on Boston Farm in Colorado; shows farm workers, horse teams and farm equipment, and a wooden hay stacking machine with an iron counter-weight.

View of farm workers harvesting celery in a field, probably in Colorado; men and women put celery into slatted boxes; farm buildings and railroad refrigerator cars are in background.

Farm workers, men and boys, pose with two well dressed men, a boy and a girl, in a plowed farm field in probably western Colorado. The farm workers wear work clothes and hats, and hold shovels and tools. The boys wear knickers and caps; one boy stands beside a dog. The girl wears a pinafore and a bonnet. An irrigation ditch and wet soil are near the people. Two men pose with trees, probably transported for planting, and a barrel on a wagon pulled by horses.

Farm workers, horse-drawn wagons, and mule-drawn equipment harvest beets somewhere in Colorado, probably Front Range or Eastern Colorado; shows large sugar beet field, several mule-drawn & horse-drawn wagons loaded or ready to be loaded with sugar beets, stacks of sugar beets in field, and team of three mules pulling a harvester. A man in suit, vest, and hat, is probably farm owner or overseer.

Men and women farm workers sit in the cab and back of a truck and eat lunch in a field at the Hightower Ranch near Keota in Weld County, Colorado. The truck has a homemade wooden frame and roof with a mattress in the back. The truck license place reads: "78-588 Colo. 1923." A sign on the cab reads: "Farm Vehicle Keota Colo."

Using pitchforks, men unload sugar beets from horsedrawn and motorized wagons, probably in Colorado. Tilled fields, farm houses, and more workers are in the background.

Shirley Sandage and Migrants in Action members Rudolfo Dominguez, Jim Mason, Gregorio Salazar and Leonel Sanchez give a press conference concerning the living conditions of migrant workers in Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. Rudolfo Dominguez, Jim Mason, and Leonel Sanchez wear berets.

Shows United Farm Workers of America Union members as they walk down a road, possibly in Colorado, in support of California farm workers on strike. They called for a boycott of grapes and of Safeway Incorporated.

Migrant workers and other protestors camp near possibly the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver, Colorado. They sit near a group of tents. Handwritten signs read: "We Welcome Martin Luther King Sr.," "Boycott Scab Grapes," and "Support Farm Labor Legislation."

View of migrant laborers' houses near Palisade (Mesa County), Colorado. Modest frame houses are by trees and the Colorado River. Mount Garfield is in the distance.

Migrant workers work in a field in Colorado. They wear wide-brimmed hats.

Portrait of Manuel Alvarado near Manzanola (Otero County), Colorado. He wears a tank top and baseball hat.

A woman cooks in a migrant worker's house near Brighton (Adams County), Colorado. A small boy stands nearby and holds a baby bottle. Pots, pans, a pail, stove, mattress, and bunk beds are in the room.

View of pigs at a migrant worker camp probably near Manzanola (Otero County), Colorado.

A Hispanic woman sits on a bed with her children at her house in Colorado. A doll and jacket are on the beds. Curtains and clothes on hangers hang from the walls nearby.

Romana Bora, a Mexican American girl, sits at a school desk in Platteville (Weld County), Colorado. She writes with a pencil and wears a dress.

View of machinery near a migrant worker's house in Adams County, Colorado. A pail and wooden crates are nearby.

Interior view of a migrant worker's house in Colorado. A bed, clothes, and radio are in one room. Boys and a girl sit and stand in a nearby room.

A nun seated on the edge of a bed listens to an unidentified migrant worker. A man and a young boy, lying in a bed behind her, look on.

A Hispanic migrant worker sits on a chair in road probably near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. Migrant workers' houses line the dirt street.

Migrant workers gather with their children along the tracks of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad in La Jara, Colorado in Conejos County. Their possessions, including bedframes, cabinets, wardrobes, tables, chairs, and kitchen utensils are gathereed at the side of the tracks. The La Jara Milling and Elevator Co. is in the background. Signs: "The La Jara Milling and Elevator Co. Wholesale Flour Grain and Feed."

Hispanic women, boys, and girls dance at a birthday party in a migrant worker's camp near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. The women and girls wear dresses. One boy wears shorts.

Mexican and Hispanic American men and women sit and stand at a meeting with the director of a Fort Lupton migrant worker camp in Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado.

View of a migrant worker's house near Longmont (Boulder County), Colorado. A washing machine, bed frame, refrigerator, and automobiles are near the house.

Mrs. Lionel Sanchez, a Mexican American, holds her daughter during a hunger strike to protest living conditions of migrant workers near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. The girl drinks from a baby bottle.

Lalo Delgado discusses Weld County migrant workers' living conditions in Colorado. He holds a crucifix.

A Hispanic woman sews with a sewing machine in Colorado. A boy and white woman look on. A baby crib is nearby.

A Hispanic boy works in a field in Colorado. He wears a plaid shirt.

Studio portrait of Native American (Navajo) men probably in Colorado. They wear hats and jackets. One man wears a tie.

A Hispanic women holds a young girl in Colorado. The woman also holds a doll.

James Fresques, State Social Services Director Con F. Shea, John Jones, and Migrants in Action members Leonel Sanchez and Jim Mason meet in a Migrants in Action office in Colorado. A television, space heater, and desk are in the office. Banners, newspaper clippings, and signs are on the walls.

Boys, girls, and a man stand near laundry on a clothesline near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. One-story cinder block houses with pitched roofs are nearby. An automobile is parked in the distance.

Robert Valenzuela, a Mexican American and Director of the Colorado Migrant Council, gives a speech during a protest in Colorado. Other protesters stand nearby. One man holds a sign that reads: "Colorado Migrant Council Is Unfair Unjust & It Stinks!"

Mexican men stand at a counter in the unemployment office in Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. Mexican American men fill-out forms on the other side of the counter.

Hispanic women and children stand near a group of tents in Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. The women wear dresses.

A Hispanic boy and girl play near a group of homes in Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. An automobile is parked nearby.

Mexican migrant workers sit in a bus in Colorado. They hold their hands up in a sign for "victory."

Migrant workers eat at a long table in a gymnasium in Colorado. A cook stands at the end of the table. A basketball hoop is in the room.

View of a trash pile and laundry on a clothesline at a migrant worker camp in Colorado. A one-story house is in the distance.

A Mexican American woman holds a baby at a migrant worker camp in Colorado. Boys and a man stand nearby. Tents are in the distance.

A Hispanic boy and girl pose in the kitchen of a house in Colorado. Cooking supplies, food, pots, and pans are in the room. A stove is nearby.

Women cook in the kitchen of a migrant worker's house in Colorado. Pots, pans, a stove, and a wooden crate used as a shelf are in the room.

View of migrant workers' houses near Manzanola (Otero County), Colorado. A pick-up truck is parked nearby.

Apollinar Martinez, a Hispanic migrant worker, picks cucumbers in Weld County, Colorado. He wears a wide-brimmed hat.

Hispanic and white men, women, and children eat and wait in line for food in a migrant worker camp in Colorado. A hand-made sign reads: "La Cocina."

Hispanic migrant workers load supplies onto the roof of a bus near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. They wear wide-brimmed hats.

A man checks a roster as Mexican migrant workers climb on a bus owned by the Great Western Sugar Company in Colorado. Luggage and passengers are on the roof of the bus.

Mexican migrant workers sit in a bus near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. They wear wide-brimmed hats. One man wears overalls.

Hispanic children play near a house at a migrant workers' camp near Manzanola (Otero County), Colorado. A manual washing machine, lumber, and large metal drum are nearby.

A Mexican American boy and a toddler pose in the doorway of a migrant laborer's house near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. The small boy wears a shirt and diaper.

Portrait of a Mexican migrant worker in Colorado. He wears a wide-brimmed hat and jacket with a pin that reads: "CIO."

Hispanic migrant workers celebrate the end of a hunger strike to protest living conditions of workers near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. One man wears an armband that reads: "Labor Force."

A Mexican farm worker (migrant worker) uses a hoe to weed a sugar beet field near Brighton, Colorado. He wears work pants, long sleeved shirt and a straw hat. Another worker is in the distance.

View of the temporary bunkhouses of migrant workers in Johnstown, Colorado, in Weld County show warehouse-shaped buildings with several entry doors.

A woman paints a sign on the side of a building during a protest over migrant workers' living conditions probably near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. She sits on the roof of a van. The sign reads: "Migrants in Action Inc. Colorado Headquarters."

Jonathan "Skip" Chase gives a speech at a press conference during a hunger strike staged by Migrants in Action to protest the living conditions of migrant workers near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. Tomm Hewes and Miss Fey Falcon sit nearby.

Hispanic and white men and women rally for improved living conditions for migrant workers at the Capitol Building in Denver, Colorado. A priest holds a flag that depicts an eagle and reads: "Huelga U. F. W. O. C. AFL-CIO Delano." Another man holds a sign that reads: "Denver Witnesses for Human Dignity."

Lawyer Jonathan "Skip" Chase and Migrants in Action members Leonel Sanchez and Gregorio Salazar participate in a press conference during a protest over migrant workers' living conditions near Fort Lupton (Weld County), Colorado. Banners on the wall nearby read: "Chicano Power" and "Migrants in Action."

A white woman reads to Hispanic boys and girls at a migrant laborer camp near Greeley (Weld County), Colorado. One boy wears a wide-brimmed hat. The girls wear dresses.

Colorado legislators Federico Peña, George Chavez, Ruben Valdez, Polly Baca-Barragán, and Richard Castro pose with United Farmworkers Union leader César Chávez (featured in center). All six individuals are wearing lapel buttons featuring the United Farmworker Union's "Boycott Chiquita" symbol that was used in the UFW 1979 boycott. Chávez was present in Colorado to deliver several public speeches in April of that year, so this photograph was likely taken during that month.

Migrant worker tent city in Brighten 1972

Espinoza Family in front of adobe dwelling in Greeley's "Spanish colony" 1971

Workers share a meal in San Luis Valley 1978

Jose Rios with grandson Reyes at home in 1981

Jose Rios 1981

Four-year-old Mike Martinez and his mother work in Brighton field along North Washington Street 1983

Harvesting cucumbers 1981

Migrant worker camp in Granada 1981

Father Thomas Moore says mass for migrant workers in Longmont 1987 WH2129PhBx367

Worker prepares boxes for lettuce harvest 1978

People tour Maria Rojas' kitchen on the Tanaka Farm near Longmont 1985

Demonstration in support of lettuce boycott on behalf of United Farm Workers 1972

UFW supporters boycott Safeway purchase of non-union lettuce 1973

Cesar Chavez rally 1973

UFW protest of non-union lettuce and Gallo wines 1973

UFW protest of non-union lettuce and Gallo wines 1974

Unidentified migrant workers play "conquian" a type of rummy, after a 12-hour long day in their living quarters outside of Ft. Lupton June 14, 2005. These men are among the many to benefit from the Denver Archdiocese's Sister Molly Mu–oz (CQ), donations a

Jessica Perez, a migrant outreach coordinator for the Salud Family Health Center, speaks with a woman in her Commerce City apartment about the services offered by the center's mobile unit. Those include dental assessments, blood and other tests, and medical advice. Services are free and patients do not have to be U.S. citizens.

Migrant worker Baltazar Garcia (CQ), a Chihuahua, Mexico native, waits to board the Limousine Express to Albuquerque, New Mexico in Pueblo, Colorado Thursday August 4, 2005. Garcia who is a lettuce and cabbage picker travels yearly by bus from El Centro,

Sister Molly Munoz, right, hands bottles of water to migrant workers during their lunch break last week outside of Broomfield. The men had been working in the fields in 90-degree-plus temperatures.

Rep. Douglas Bruce talks to reporters at his office in the State House on Monday, April 21, 2008. Bruce was ordered to step down from the podium earlier in the day for calling temporary migrant workers "illiterate peasants."

Migrant workers Isidro Escobar, 35, left, and his father, Lazaro, 68, talk about their journey to the United States from central Mexico and their life in Colorado as field workers. The two are among many who have benefited from the help offered by Munoz and the Centro San Juan Diego.

Workers weed an onion field at Grant Family Farms, the state's largest organic farm, near Wellington. To comply with regulations on organic produce, no herbicide is used, so all of the farm's fields must be weeded by hand. The farm also uses no pesticides, so it tries to improve the habitat for beneficial insects, hoping to keep enough of them around to prey upon and control the population of harmful insects.

Sister Molly Munoz drives from migrant camp to migrant camp, near Broomfield and Ft. Lupton handing out food and goods to the workers Thursday July 8, 2005. The help she brings is offered by Denver Archdiocese's Sister Molly Munoz (CQ), and the Centro Jua

An unidentified migrant worker does his laundry after a 12-hour long day in the fields outside of Ft. Lupton June 14, 2005. Denver Archdiocese's Sister Molly Mu–oz (CQ), and the Centro Juan Diego, comes around his living quarters to offer help. Sister Mol

Unidentified migrant workers who have benefited from the help offered by Denver Archdiocese's Sister Molly Mu–oz (CQ), and the Centro Juan Diego, stands in a corn field outside of Ft. Lupton June 14, 2005. Sister Molly "La hermanita," (the little sister)

Migrant farm workers from southern Colorado march on Capitol 1978

UFW supporters, including Sister Mary Luke Tobin of Sisters of Loretto, protest Nobel Foods 1982

Protesters march against round-up of migrant workers 1982