This collection consists of photographs taken by Cathy Murphy of farm workers in California (and a few in Arizona), and Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers (UFW) movement from 1975 through 1979, including a few images of labor activists Fred Ross, Sr. and Dolores Huerta. Murphy documented the plight of workers in the field, Chavez's fight against child labor, and the 1975 Thousand Mile March from the California/Mexico border to Sacramento and finally back to UFW headquarters in Keene, called "La Paz." The collection contains original photographs and posters and other reproductions of Murphy's UFW work. It also includes a few items from the 2013 San Francisco State University exhibition, Marching Through History with Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers: A Photo Documentary by Cathy Murphy, in which many of these photos were displayed.

In 1975, labor leader Cesar Chavez met and recruited photographer Cathy Murphy. Chavez knew that photos would persuade state legislators in Sacramento that child labor was a reality in California. On her first outing, Murphy photographed a young girl named Lupita working in her socks in an onion field in Mettler, California (Photo 13). Chavez arranged for photos of children working in the fields to be published in the UFW newspaper, El Malcriado, and a poster of Lupita at work was circulated throughout the state. The grower identified in the poster subsequently filed a lawsuit against Chavez, the UFW, the AFL-CIO, and Murphy. The grower claimed he did not own land in Mettler and that he did not hire children. During the trial, farm worker families filled the steps of the courthouse and children bearing pay stubs testified that they worked in the onion fields. The libel charges against the UFW were dismissed. The case brought public awareness to the fact that children were indeed working in the fields of California in the mid-1970s.

4.07 Cubic Feet (5 boxes)

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. Photographs are for research purposes only. All requests for permission to publish or quote from other material must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Collection is open for research.