Title
Lechuga Lucha
Creator
Website
Description
Lithograph over color serigraph on tan woven paper, 30 in. x 22.5 in. Headless horseman holding a flaming head of lettuce and looming over his boss who cowering a lettuce field. Image is joined with the text, "Lechuga Lucha!" "Let us Fight!" In this print, a headless rider, wearing a red poncho emblazoned with the UFW (United Farm Workers) logo, encourages migrant farm workers to fight for their labor rights, as a frightened grower cries out, “Joaquin!” The artist references I Am Joaquin, or Yo soy Joaquin, composed by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales in 1967, a famous epic poem associated with the Chicano Movement. In the poem, Joaquin (the narrator) speaks of the struggles that the Chicano people have endured to gain economic justice and equal rights in the U.S., as well as to find an identity of being part of a unique Chicano culture. He promises that his culture will survive, if all Chicano people unify and demand social justice. The poet Gonzales outlines 2000 years of Mexican and Chicano history; he traces both his ancestry to the Spanish conquistadors and the Aztecs they "conquered.” He also identifies with revolutionary figures of Mexican history, such as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Benito Juárez, Pancho Villa, and Joaquin Murrieta who was a legendary Californian vaquero and gold miner known for seeking retribution against the Anglo-Americans invaders who hanged his brother and killed his wife. Joaquin Murrieta eventually was captured by a bounty hunter and beheaded. Known as the “Robin Hood of the West,” Murrieta later inspired the creation of the Cisco Kid and Zorro. In 1969, the poem was adapted into a short film by Luis Valdez, a leading figure in Chicano theater and film.
Subject
Date
Contributor
Access Rights
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