Rostros del Tiempo Art Reception

This fall the Center is honored to showcase a photography collection titled Rostros del Tiempo: Faces of Time. Taken by Charles D. Thompson, Jr., these portraits depict the faces of former Braceros (or sometimes their widows, who stand for them) who once worked in U.S. fields, harvesting crops and providing food for American consumers from 1942-1964. These elderly men and women gather every Sunday in Ciudad Juarez to protest because they still have not received the retirement benefits they earned half a century ago. We are honored to host former Bracero Don Modesto Zurita Estrada as well as professor and community organizer Luis Alfonso Herrera Robles. You can read about the Braceros in Thompson’s new book, Border Odyssey (University of Texas Press, 2015), or view a short film about the Border Odyssey project here.

These photographs represent thousands more Braceros near Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere in Mexico and the U.S., including those not pictured and those already passed on–as well as workers everywhere whose pay has been shortchanged. The event will also feature Luis Del Río and Juanito Laguna performing traditional Latin American rhythms and folk/rock tunes from their forthcoming album, “Inmigrante.” You can listen to a curated audio playlist about the immigrant experience on this SoundCloud page produced by the Southern Oral History Program. This event is free and open to the public; light refreshments will be served.