The University of Arizona Press
When: Friday, April 28, 7:15 p.m.
Where: University of Arizona, Integrated Learning Center, Room ILC 130, 1500 E. University Blvd., Tucson
As part of the Southwest Center Spring 2023 Lecture Series “Soundscape of the Southwest”, author Tim Hernandez and singer/songwriter Ana Saldaña will present a poetic and musical performance, “Searching for the Plane Wreck at Los Gatos.”
This presentation is part of the Plane Crash Project, which centers around the famous 1948 accident in Los Gatos Canyon, Fresno County, which took the lives of 32 passengers, 28 who were “Mexican Nationals.” The pilot, first officer, stewardess and an immigration official who were white received burials in their hometowns. The Mexicans — many of whom were part of the bracero program and working in the U.S. legally — were buried in a mass grave in Fresno, with a small plaque bearing none of their names.
This is the same crash made famous by Woody Guthrie and Martin Hoffman, in the song “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (The Deportee Song),” which has been recorded by musicians such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger
Tim Hernandez wrote the book All They Will Call You, in which he combines years of painstaking investigative research and masterful storytelling. The author weaves a captivating narrative from testimony, historical records, and eyewitness accounts, reconstructing the incident and the lives behind the legendary song. The book will be available for purchase at the event.
