“We need to honor my mom and the women and the children that were involved [in the strike]. The deserve all of the recognition. It’s overdue.” –Willie Andazola

The above photograph is from the Empire Zinc Mine Strike. The child on the left is Willie Andazola, who remembers being inside a “a burned down building…converted into a jail.” Andazola elaborates on his role in the strike as a young boy:

“My mother took me and my brother to the strike from Santa Rita. I was about 5 years-old, and I rode in the same car as Rachel Valencia who was fourteen years old at the time, my brother Salvador, and my mom Camerina. Corina Rivera drove us. I remember going and playing with the rest of the kids at the top of the hill and seeing the picket line. Some time during the summer after the women took over the picket line, the police showed up, the law enforcement, and starting picking up ladies and putting them in cars, so the kids started running down. The police grabbed me and threw me in the car, but I didn’t see my mom; we got separated. Sometimes I get flashbacks of being in the crowded cell in the back, and we ran out of air back there, the kids, so we would almost pass out. They had to move us to the front of the cell so we wouldn’t pass out. That’s how crowded it was. A few days later, I can’t really remember how many, but I got reunited with my mother. The ladies took care of me. Now, a lot of them are passed. I remember thinking about my mom being arrested. I remember the men couldn’t strike, so that’s why the women were out there. Even at that age, my dad and Gilbert Ramirez’s dad wanted both of us to be strong union members.”

When analyzing photographs, the tendency is to focus only on what is inside the frame. No doubt, what lies in the photo itself is significant and worth discussing, but it is also essential to look outside and beyond the frame of the photo. In his testimonio, Andazola recalls several childhood “flashbacks” during the strike. These flashbacks provide context for the photo—a more thorough view of the time and place the photo was taken and its broader cultural significance.

Using Andazola’s writing as a guideline, consider creating your own testimonio. Before you begin writing, explore and reflect on some photographs from your childhood. Find and select one or two of them. For each photograph you select, take notes on the following:

  • inside the frame—name and describe who is in the photo, any physical objects, the setting/location, etc.
  • outside the frame—name and describe the person who took the photo and anyone who was/might have been standing nearby. Do you remember the purpose of the photo? Do you remember the time of day, month, season, or year?
  • beyond the frame—what was happening in your life when the photo was taken? What was happening in other peoples’ lives? What was happening in your community, your town/city, state, country?

After spending some time taking notes on your photograph(s), write your testimonio. After writing your testimonio, consider submitting your photo and writing for publication.