Growing Season: Life of a Migrant Community

by David Hassler (Contributor), Robert Coles (Foreword), Gary Harwood (Photographer)

Selected as one of the “Books that Matter” by the Association of American University Presses for its 75th anniversary. When photographer Gary Harwood first stepped onto the K. W. Zellers family farm in Hartville, Ohio, to take pictures of the Mexican migrant workers there, he did not expect to find such a strong, tightly knit community. Over the next five years he used his camera to study the lives and work of these migrants in their northeastern Ohio home. His artful photography captures the migrants’ portraits and movingly conveys their great pride in work and family, their struggles and joys. Accompanying these vibrant photographs are revealing first-person narratives written by David Hassler. The voices of the migrants and community members are eloquent testaments to the importance of the culture, the resilience of the people, and the power of the place. In photos and stories, Growing Season celebrates the work and play and religious, medical, familial, and communal experiences of these workers―young, old, male, female―and offers readers a success story. A part of our American landscape, these people and the dedicated, caring group of volunteers who support them teach all of us about dignity and humanity.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2006

About the author

Director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. Ohio Poet of the Year, 2006; Ohioana Book Award, 2007.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has great pictures taken by Gary Harwood of migrant farmers working on a farm in Hartville, OH. The stories are interesting and informative about the life of the migrant farmers. I read this for a class at Kent State University. It is a book that if I would have seen it on the shelf at the library I would never check out to read but I am happy it was assigned because it was interesting and it showed a part of farming that many people do not know or understand.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

We live in the area and have driven by the migrant camps and the migrant center for years. This book was a lovely and personal look into the family and social structures that create such a unique community in Hartville.

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Photos of a migrant community interspersed with narratives.