Inspiring IndividualsLEARNING FROM CESAR CHAVEZ & TOYO MIYATAKE

Gary Miyatake looks up at a portrait he made of Cesar Chavez with a photo of his grandfather Toyo Miyatake at left at his studio in Gardena. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Cesar Chavez & the migrant farm workers

Farmers grow us good food to eat, but about 50 years ago, some farm workers didn’t have a very nice job.

Some families didn’t own their own farm, so they worked on other people’s farms to make money.

They often lived in dirty camps, received low wages for backbreaking work, and battled racism.

Cesar Chavez worked these jobs when he was a teenager. He promised to make these people’s lives better.

Cesar Chavez used fasting to draw attention to the poor working conditions that the farm workers were facing. Robert Kennedy went to Delano when Chavez was ready to break his first lengthy fast. The picture of the two men as Chavez ended the 25-day fast became one of the most iconic images of the farmworker movement.

Toyo Miyatake & Japanese Internment camps

About 70 years ago, the United States fought in World War II. We fought against Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Some people thought that Japanese-Americans were spies for the Japanese government (they weren’t).

Because people were scared, they made Japanese-American families leave their homes and move to prison camps in the desert.

Toyo Miyatake and his family had to move to one of these camps even though they were not spies. He took many pictures of what life was like at a camp called Manzanar.

One of Miyatake's best-known photographs, of three boys looking through the prison camp's barbed-wire fence, with guard tower in background. Photograph by Toyo Miyatake. (Photo courtesy of Alan Miyatake, Toyo Miyatake Studio.)

May Watts and Bullying

You’ve seen how Cesar Chavez and Toyo Miyatake fought to help the people of their community.

These two men remind us to fight for what is right and take care of our neighbors, classmates, and friends.

Guided by the actions of Chavez and Miyatake, imagine you witness a student being bullied out on the playground. You are not good friends with the student, but he or she is in your grade. How would you react? Tell the bully to go away Find an adult to help Invite the child being bullied to play with you

Draw a picture that shows your reaction to the bullying you witnessed.