Fields of Toil

Abstract

In popular memory the California farmworker brings to mind César Chavez and the United Farmworkers’ Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, perhaps the striking black-and-white image of a Dorothea Lange photograph, or Henry Fonda playing the role of Tom Joad in the film of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Richard Steven Street, a documentary photographer and historian, has produced a remarkable record of farmworkers and their history in Beasts of the Field and Photographing Farmworkers in California. These two volumes broaden our vision of agricultural labourers in California in unexpected ways. At a time when academic writing is dominated by the need to ‘theorize’ just about everything in sight, Street demonstrates the interpretive and analytical value of a thoughtful and carefully constructed narrative history. In Beasts of the Field, he synthesizes thirty years of research into a compelling and highly readable account written with insight and empathy. He skilfully traces the historical trajectory of farmworkers and their contributions to California agriculture over nearly one hundred and fifty years by weaving together a variety of narratives that reconstruct the experiences of particular groups. The textual account of Beasts of the Field is enhanced by more than fifty carefully chosen images drawn from diverse sources. This emphasis on visual images is further developed in Photographing Farmworkers in California, which at once provides a history of the photography of agricultural labour in California and reflects on photography as a source of documentary evidence.