Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Struggle in the Fields is a segment of a PBS documentary CHICANO! that chronicles the efforts of farmworkers to form a national labor union. Under the leadership of nonviolence advocate Cesar Chavez, farmworkers launched a strike against California grape growers in 1965, demanding better working conditions and fair wages. In 1970, they undertook a national table grape boycott that eventually led to the first union contracts in farm labor history. An important milestone on the struggle was the passage of the California Labor Relations Act.

In Pete Seeger: Power of Song, the only authorized biography, Jim Brown documents the life of one of the greatest American singer/songwriters of the last century. Pete Seeger was the architect of the folk revival, writing some of its best known songs including "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn, Turn, Turn," and "If I Had A Hammer." Largely misunderstood by his critics, including the US government, for his views on peace, unionism, civil rights and ecology, Seeger was targeted by the communist witch hunt of the Fifties. He was picketed, protested, blacklisted, and, inspite of his enormous popularity, banned from American television for more than 17 years. With a combination of never-before-seen archival footage and personal films made by seeger and his wife, Pete Seeger: Power of Song chronicles the life of this legendary artist and political activist.

For more information, contact Peter Dreier at dreier@oxy.edu or Sylvia Chico at schico@oxy.edu.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Friday, November 23, 2012

Saturday, November 24, 2012