La Familia by José Montoya

This specific Chicano mural called La Familia by José Montoya claims that we should work to support our family financially. This mural is indicating that the father is sacrificing himself to support his family financially and physically by working in the fields. As the mother dressed as a farmer, it also signifies that she works with her husband as well. These parents were able to collect enough money to send their son to school and buy him reading materials. Their son is carrying a book that translates ‘laws’ in English. I believe that their son wants to grow up as a lawyer because witnessing what his family have to do in order to live in the United States, he wants to be able to change their poor working environment into a safe environment with better work conditions. Then there’s a tree that’s in the process of growing. I believe that the tree roots symbolizes that Chicano/Latinos families started their life on American soil, farming. As the little boy grows into a successful young man, the tree grows with him; this symbolizes that he used that as his motivation to become successful rather than following his parent's footsteps. While the United Farm Workers (UFW) flag stands in the background, I believe it represents that the little boy was able to achieve the working conditions for the future field workers.