Historia Chicana

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Historia Chicana

26 September 2012

From: Jesús Manuel Mena Garza [
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 2:08 PM
To: Roberto Calderon
Subject: Photographer, Jesus Garza puts 1970′s Chicano civil rights back in the spotlight

http://nbclatino.com/2012/09/26/photographer-puts-1970s-chicano-civil-rights-back-in-the-spotlight/#s:jesusgarza7

Jesús Manuel Mena Garza
2419 Cambridge Avenue
Wichita Falls, TX 76308

M (909) 557-7152
O (940) 386-9431
www.JMMGarza.com

Jesús Garza (Photo/Dr. Anne Marie Leimer)

NBC Latino

[PHOTOS] Photographer Puts 1970′s Chicano Civil Rights Back in the Spotlight

By Kristina Puga, @kristinapuga

5:00 am on 09/26/2012

While César Chávez was in the limelight actively protesting for Chicano civil rights in 1970′s California, Jesús Garza was right beside him, quietly documenting the commotion using black and white film.

Born in San José, Calif. to campesinos from Crystal City, Texas, Garza says he’s been taking photos ever since he bought his first film camera at a flea market at 11-years-old. For more than four decades, he has been photographing interesting characters he has encountered throughout his life, making them timeless. Currently, Garza continues to lecture and show his images at universities, libraries, museums and galleries. “The Chicano Photographer” series, which Garza took from 1970-1975, was just displayed in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. and is also part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Collection.

“I’ve always been the photographer, the person that watches…the person that observes,” says Garza. “Other people are raising their fists, reading the poem, playing the guitar, and I was the guy taking the pictures. My role was to document what was taking place.”

These days, Garza says he keeps busy by reading a lot.

“I like to read ‘How To’ books – tech, cameras lenses, science…and I like to read about history and cultures,” says Garza about how he enjoys spending his time when he’s not giving lectures or taking pictures.

He’s so up-to-date with technology for a 60-year-old, that he’s taught college-level courses on iPhone and iPad photography and video. He says he had fun having the students critique each others’ photos, because it’s a good way for people to see how other people see. He also has had an ongoing love affair with black and white photos.

“I wish they just had a black and white ink jet printer, that would make my life so much easier,” says Garza, in his good-natured way. “It’s more appealing to me…Black and white abstracts reality and makes it more artistic.”

He says his favorite photo was one of his most popular – the iconic black and white shot of César Chávez.

“I shot him many times, but there was one time in this United Farm Worker conference at a football stadium, and he was sitting on the lawn and just talking to some people, so I knelt down about 10 feet away from him and he smiled,” says Garza about the photo which would later been seen at The Smithsonian, and on posters, for years to come.

He says he still has strong memories of being 5-years-old and sitting on a tree collecting fruits and green beans in fields so contaminated with pesticides, they were sticky.

“A lot of my friends have died from cancer,” says Garza. “That was the reality of the situation. The Chicanos that I met, we all could relate to the campesino – farmworker movement.”

He says at that time only 2 percent of Latinos were in college, and he was one of the lucky few.

“I studied journalism with a photo concentration at San José State University, just down the street,” says Garza about a time which was more affordable to study. “My tuition at San Jose State was $81 per semester, which ain’t bad.”

He also remembers college being a social scene. He says whenever there was an event, people came to participate – be it anti-Vietnam or the United Farm Workers movement.

Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez (1974) “He’s like a Chicano political icon – he came up with a poem called ‘yo soy Joaquin’… From Denver, he was the president of the Crusade for Justice… He was visiting the San Jose cultural center that I was the treasurer of…He was a feisty character – ex-professional boxer,” says Garza.

“El Louie” (1970) “A guy from the neighborhood. He’s in my parent’s living room…His pants are quite muddy, he essentially escaped from jail. He jumped over the fence and came to our house…I hadn’t seen him since junior high, but he knew were we lived. He wanted to have a beer and a cigarette. He was around 20. The next day was Christmas and about two days later, he turned himself back in – he just wanted to come home for the holidays,” says Garza.

(1970) “My father sitting at the kitchen table in our modest home,” says Garza.

(1974) Teotihuacan, Mexico City. “Quinto Festival de los Teatros Chicanos – a conference about theater. There were about 20 different performances, and the backdrop is Mexico. Groups came from Chicago, San Francisco, L.A., Buenos Aires, Chile, Mexico City – an exchange of ideas,” says Garza.

(1974) “Teatro Campesino – preeminent Chicano theater group of the ’70’s directed by Luis Valdez from San Jose…They worked in the fields and rode around in a truck with a big platform behind it…and stand there and do a play. They spoke for the need for a UFW union. It evolved into a cultural center,” says Garza.

(1973) “By the river in Helyer Park – people decided to call it “Chicano Park” – people would go in their cars and hang out. In the late 60’s, people started hanging out, talking and drinking by the river. It was a hippie movement called a ‘be in’ – we’re just going to be ourselves and hang out,” says Garza.

“UFW march in Stockton…When something was new and exciting at that time, people would march and converge…The UFW had a protest against Gala Wines – protesting the fact that workers didn’t have protection. Woman holding la Virgen de Tepeyac – a symbol of faith saying I’m Mexicano and the virgen is going to protect me…Women didn’t have a place to go to the bathroom. There was no water or breaks, and sometimes workers didn’t get paid,” says Garza.

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(1970) César Chávez, American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. Garza says it is one of his most popular, and his personal favorite.

(1970) “My father sitting at the kitchen table in our modest home,” says Garza.

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“I’ve always had a whole range of jobs, and I’ve always moved places here and there,” says the photographer, who has worked in radio, television, and ad agencies. “But I’ve always had an opportunity to do photography.”

Since his time in San José, Garza has photographed his way through San Francisco (where he met his wife), to Austin, Texas, Redlands, Calif., and just last month moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, where his wife, Dr. Anne Marie Leimer, just got a job as chairwoman of Midwestern State University’s Harvey School of Visual Arts.

“Who knows where my wife will be dragging me next,” says Garza jokingly. “A lot of my friends stay in L.A. or San Francisco and don’t see other realities. They wonder, ‘Why are you going there?’…Every city has its own uniqueness, and it’s exciting to explore new realities.”

Ever since he got his first camera, Garza says his favorite subjects to shoot were buildings and people.

“To this day my favorite subjects are buildings and people – that doesn’t change,” says spunky photographer. “I’m going to create a blog called ‘The Wichita Falls Experience’ of people I meet, people I see – Garza’s new reality.”

He laughs as he mentions how his friends in San Francisco are probably going to nightclubs and having their cocktails.

“But I’ll have a blog and get a new camera,” says Garza who has his eyes set on the Nikon D800. “I own a film-based camera, but I want something really nice and digital. I’m pretty good with Photoshop.”

(1970) “My father sitting at the kitchen table in our modest home,” says Garza.

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(1970) “My father sitting at the kitchen table in our modest home,” says Garza.