Luis Valdez was born in a farm labor camp in Delano, California to farmworker parents, and joined his parents in the fields at just six years old.
Video Features
Luis Valdez's play commented on identity and assimilation
Luis Valdez's play, "Los Vendidos," or the sellouts, was a commentary on assimilation and identity.
When "Zoot Suit" reached Broadway
Luis Valdez's "Zoot Suit" was the first Chicano play on Broadway.
Luis Valdez's farmworker origins
Luis Valdez was born in a farm labor camp in Delano, California to farmworker parents.
Written Features
TRANSCRIPT
(wind whooshing) (birds chirping) (pleasant strings music) (text ticking) - I was born in a farm labor camp in Delano, California.
My parents were born in Arizona.
They were farm workers.
At six years old, I joined my folks in the fields, picking tomatoes, picking cotton, whatever there was to be picked.
We seemed to beasts of burden.
(gentle music) - Oftentimes they wouldn't get paid.
They had to work from sun up to sundown.
There were no bathrooms in the fields for the workers.
No drinking water.
It was literally slave labor.
(gentle music)
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