Look Closely at a Photograph by George Rodriguez

Answer the following questions as you look at the photograph.

• What is going on in this image? Describe details that support your observations.
• Zoom in on the expressions of the people pictured. What words would you use to describe the feeling of the moment? Is it hopeful? Is there a sense of urgency or energy? Provide details from the photograph to support your response.
• What elements of this photo feel like they are from a different time? What elements feel like it could have been taken today?
• What message do you think this photograph is communicating? How does the composition support that message?

Read About a Photograph of the 1968 East Los Angeles Walkouts

George Rodriguez’s photographs of the 1968 East Los Angeles Walkouts capture a pivotal moment in Mexican American history and demonstrate the power of photography to preserve community stories and memories. The walkouts were student-led protests that showed how young people can work together to create change. In 1968, influenced by other social movements of the era such as the civil rights movement, thousands of Mexican American students walked out of five East Los Angeles high schools. They protested against overcrowded classrooms, discrimination against Mexican American students, unequal educational opportunities, and lack of cultural and community representation within the curriculum and staffing. While Rodriguez worked as a Hollywood photographer during the day, he spent his lunch breaks documenting the protests. His photographs created an important visual record of the movement and continue to help people understand the experiences and activism of the students who participated.

This photograph, Student Walkout, Boyle Heights was one of many made by Rodriguez documenting this important movement. In the image, Rodriguez captures students walking out of their high school as the protest gets underway. Their protest was made even more powerful because they were asserting their visibility, dignity, and political power—even as youth. Rodriguez’s framing of the photo puts the students front and center, as we see a student walking towards us, out of the school, and shortly thereafter, right out of the photograph’s frame!

Rodriguez’s act of documenting this movement wasn’t just as a bystander. His documentation was itself a form of participation. The resulting photographs are both art and historical testimony: a visual record of a community demanding recognition and change, made at a time when the dominant narrative told a different story.

Optional Activities

• Read About the East Los Angeles Walkouts to learn more about this important historical movement.
• Examine how two Los Angeles newspapers covered the East Los Angeles Walkouts in strikingly different ways by comparing a Los Angeles Times article with an article in La Raza.

Questions

Discuss or write your responses.

• The text says the following about Rodriguez: “His documentation of the protests was itself a form of participation.” Do you agree that documentation itself can be a form of participation in social movements? Why or why not?
• How does having a photographic record impact our understanding of the East Los Angeles Walkouts?
• What similarities do you see between the East Los Angeles Walkouts and student activism today?
• How does this photograph serve as a counter-story to dominant narratives about students, education, and civic engagement? What assumptions does it challenge?
• What in your community do you think should be photographed and shared with others?

Explore More Photographs of the Walkouts Taken by George Rodriguez

As you look at each photograph in the carousel below, think about or discuss the following questions:

• What is going on in this image? Describe details that support your observations.
• Imagine you are a journalist and you are on scene at each of these locations. How would you describe the protests based on each image?
• Who is shown in each photo? How are the different people portrayed?
• What actions are depicted?
• What emotions do the images evoke?
• Which image gives students the most agency?
• Which image emphasizes authority, conflict, or order?
• In each photograph, Rodriguez uses different angles and compositions to frame the image. Describe how these elements help to shape the story that each image tells.

Taking action to improve communities and society or to challenge injustice and inequality through activities such as organizing, protesting, educating others, or advocating for change.

A cultural and political identity that emerged from the Mexican American civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Some Mexican Americans use this term to describe themselves, but not all.

Actions stemming from conscious or unconscious prejudice, which favor and empower one group over others based on differences of race, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion, language, age, national identity, and other categories.

Refers to the stories or perspectives that are most widely accepted and repeated in a society, often reflecting the views of those with the most power or influence, while other perspectives may be ignored or marginalized.

The fair and meaningful inclusion of diverse people and communities in decision-making, leadership, media, and other public spaces so their voices and experiences are recognized and valued.

Being seen, recognized, and valued by society instead of being ignored, overlooked, or excluded.