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Josiah
McConnell Heyman is
Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
at the University of Texas at El Paso. A
long time student of the U.S.-Mexico border,
he is the author or editor of three books
and thirty articles on border culture, states,
migration, labor, and consumption. He was
honored by the Royal Anthropological Institute
of Great Britain and Ireland with the Curl
Essay Prize for his article, “Respect
for Outsiders? Respect for the Law? The
Moral Evaluation of High-Scale Issues by
US Immigration Officers” (2000). Heyman’s
books include Finding a Moral Heart
for U.S. Immigration Policy (American
Anthropological Association, 1998); States
and Illegal Practices (Berg Publishers,
1999); and Life and Labor on the Border:
Working People of Northeastern Sonora, Mexico,
1886-1986 (University of Arizona Press,
1991). Altagracia
Sánchez was
born in the Dominican Republic and migrated
with her family to the Cincinnati area
in 1994. After entering Miami University
in 2001, Sánchez became a member
of the Black Student Action Association
(BSAA) and the Minority Students Professional
Association; was the International Outreach
Chair for Circle K; and served as secretary,
then President, of the Association of
Latin and American Students (ALAS), where
she promoted community service with immigrants
and sparked political activism by bringing
in speakers like Rosa Clemente. Sánchez
is currently on leave of absence from
Miami University while serving a City
Year with Americorps in Philadelphia,
where she is focusing on minority family
involvement with the community and its
outreach programs. In 2005-6 she will
complete her final year at Miami with
a major in Spanish and minor in Latin
American Studies, and then pursue Law
School.
Baldemar Velásquez
is a human and labor
rights activist and founding president
of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee
(FLOC) AFL-CIO. Influenced by Mennonite
and Gandhian philosophies, Mr. Velásquez
has led several historical fights for
farm workers’ rights over the last
three decades, including negotiations
with Campbell’s Soup and Vlasic
for immigrant workers’ rights. Under
his leadership, FLOC established a U.S.-Mexico
commission to oversee joint organizing
and negotiation efforts, and in 1991 he
co-founded the Farm Worker Network for
Economic and Environmental Justice in
order to increase collaboration between
U.S. and international farm worker organizations.
He has received a MacArthur Fellowship
(1989), the Hispanic Heritage Leadership
Award (1994), and Mexico's Aguila Azteca
Award (1994). Velásquez served
as co-chair of the U.S. Labor Party, and
in 2002, led a delegation to the White
House to discuss the Freedom Act legislation.
As a child, Mr. Velásquez worked
in the fields with his Mexican migrant
family, and later worked in canneries.
He is an accomplished song-writer and
musician who writes ballads about the
struggles of farm workers for a better
life, and sings them with his Aguila Negra
Band.
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