The Photography of John Kouns

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The Photography of John Kouns

• An exhibition and discussion of historical
  photographs from the civil rights and United Farm
  Worker movements.

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This Felix Zapata and on the back he has a
little story. I think I probably got it from El
Malcriado, but it tells a little bit about him.
Hes holding his hat over heart, his big Stetson,
and hes thanking the union for fixing his car.
Its just what the union can be about in helping
the workers. You can see hes so grateful for
their help. -- John Kouns The inscription on
the back of the photo reads I was born in
Mexico and grew up in Texas. I worked on the
cotton compress there and worked hoeing cotton
for 70 cents an hour. My family helped me when
they could. Eventually my children had to drop
out of school. I feel badly that they left
school. But I knew from the beginning that my
kids would be working in the fields because what
else could they do? I knew I had no money to keep
them in school, and unless our children stay in
school, they will always work in the fields.
Maybe when the strike is over and the union is
strong with paying members we can save some money
for our children to go to school.
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This picture is of Julio Hernandez who was, I
think, the first vice president of the union and
his son John. They look very much alike. Of
course, he has a grizzled, farmworker face and
his son has wonderful flowing hair. Again, this
is a picture that I thought worked because the
future of his child could depend on the success
of the union. I remember Julio talking to me
about how you cant get things for your children
if you dont have the money. I see him every once
in a while and I remember him saying, You know
if the kids want a watermelon and its hot in the
summer and if you are in the union, you might not
have enough money to buy the watermelon for your
child. Thats been the biggest sacrifice. Im
sure its worth it, but this is one of the things
that kind of hurt him. -- John Kouns
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This is Carolina Franco and she was a very
enthusiastic union member. Shes holding a
candle. I think this was taken in Modesto. Every
night we would stop somewhere and there would be
a meeting. If there was a hall, wed go to the
hall, otherwise wed hold it on the back of a
truck if there was no place else. The Plan for
Delano would be read and the teatro would perform
and music and songs would be sung and stating
what we were going to be doing the next day. It
was a wonderful thing. -- John Kouns
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This is a picture of Luis Valdez who started the
Teatro Compesino in the United Farmworkers. The
eagle in the background is the symbol of the
union. Luis has a strong, kind of devilish look
and I think the symbol and Luis face go well
together in this shot. -- John Kouns
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Here the Teatro performs on the back of a truck.
Thats Luis in the center and his brother,
Danial, I believe is on his right. On the left is
Felipe Cantu. I forget who is playing the cop.
-- John Kouns
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This is Felipe Cantu in an interesting theatrical
pose. Esquirol means scab in Spanish. In the
Teatro, they had different signs to identify who
they were. -- John Kouns
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This is a picture of a Mexican picketer and he
was kind of presenting himself to me to take his
picture. I like the enthusiasm he expresses and
it looks like hes doing well for the cause. --
John Kouns
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Grower Jack Pandol (center) was a character. He
would come out to the picket line and bring his
bullhorn sometimes and over talk whos ever
talking to the workers. He and Dolores (Huerta
with megaphone) used to get into conversations.
Here shes holding the bullhorn and hes smirking
and shes talking to the workers in the field. --
John Kouns
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This is a picture of Cesar taken about 1972 or
73. It was taken at San Rafael in Marin County.
The Independent-Journal was the newspaper there
and they were notoriously anti union. They had a
lockout of the workers and Cesar came and spoke
at a rally supporting the workers. That was one
of the things that was so successful for the
union was Cesars ability to work with and
involve the outside community. Of course, he had
a great union backing from other unions in the
state. One of the reasons was that he would go
out and support them. He tried to spread the word
to both the civilian and union population. --
John Kouns
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This was at the UFW convention in Fresno, Ca.
Cesar is clapping his hands and in the background
is a big mural depicting growers and Teamsters
battling the UFW. This was while the strike was
going on in Salinas. -- John Kouns
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One of my most favorite people in the union is
Richard Chavez, Cesars brother. This was taken
in Watsonville in 1998 during the strawberry
strike. I believe it was 1998. This is of course
after Cesar died and in the background is a
picture of Cesar.
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Three ladies that I call the Ladies of the
Strike. Top is Dolores Huerta, vice president of
the union, (middle) Cesars mother Juana Estrada
Chavez and (foreground) Peggy. I dont recall her
last name. -- John Kouns
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Robert Kennedy in Filipino Hall in Delano I
believe 1966. Senator Robert Kennedy at UFWOC
headquarters during his visit to Delano with the
Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor. One of
the nice things about farmworker union meetings
were all the children there. It was like going to
a Pentecostal church or something. It was
babysitting in a sense. You know they had quite a
few children. Kennedy sits among three little
children and they are all doing different things.
The one child sitting next him is looking up to
him as if hes some kind of a god. -- John Kouns
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Heres a group shot at the end of the fast.
Bottom row from left Helen Chavez (Cesars
wife), Robert Kennedy and Cesar and then his
mother Juana. -- John Kouns
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(No Transcript)
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This photograph is of King (Martin Luther) and
they are listening to Ralph Abernathy of CORE
giving a talk. Very seldom do you see a picture
of King laughing, but Im sure he laughed a lot.
They said he had a great sense of humor. Most
situations that I happen to see him in, it was
usually after something happened and it was
usually pretty grim. I think its one of the
pictures of King that I like the best. -- John
Kouns
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This is a picture of Martin Luther King (right)
with one of the marchers and they were waiting in
front of Browns Chapel in Selma. This gives
another picture of King with his funny looking
hat on. -- John Kouns
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This picture shows and Im sure its her
grandmother or great-grandmother or friend
grandmother holding her hand and the child
carries a sign that says, March for jobs and
freedom. It kind of has a feeling of hope for
the future. -- John Kouns
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This is just a simple photograph, but I kind of
like it. It depicts the feeling of wanting
freedom. I think photographers read more into
photographs than is there after the photographs
been hanging around for some time. You know these
photographs are 40 years old now. -- John Kouns
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This photograph shows a woman with her eyes
closed and it looks like shes kind of feeling
the whole thing. To the left, you see someone
with a newspaper in their pocket and you can just
see a little bit of the word Evers. Thats Medgar
Evers who was killed in Mississippi. I dont know
if that happened the day before, but I imagine it
did. So you read the headlines you can almost
read into the photograph. -- John Kouns
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End Presentation

• Photographs and comments compiled by
• Jim Moore
• www.jimmooreink.com