Three new library exhibitions at Duke University explore the human experience of farmworkers and the history of a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving their lives.

The first of the exhibits, "Student Action with Farmworkers: 20 Years of Growing Farmworker Activists," is in the Perkins Library Gallery and features documentary photos, protest signs, campaign materials and more items from SAF's history. An adjacent exhibit on "The Art of SAF" demonstrates the organization's use of creative arts in education and outreach. And in the nearby Rubenstein Library Photography Gallery, "Documenting the Politics of Food" features photographs of American agriculture and agricultural labor from the Rubenstein Library's documentary photography collections. The exhibits run through Dec. 9.

For 20 years, Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) has worked to bring together students, community members and farmworkers in the Southeast to work for justice in the agricultural system. What began as a small group of Duke public policy students documenting farmworker conditions has since grown into an independent nonprofit with a national reach. The organization's papers are held by Duke's Human Rights Archive in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

An opening reception for the exhibits will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in Perkins Library's Rare Book Room on Duke's West Campus. The reception, which will feature Latin American food and live music, is free and open to the public.

"Student Action with Farmworkers has made a real difference in the lives of farmworkers, normally invisible and largely forgotten by all of us who benefit from their backbreaking work," said Robin Kirk, co-director of the Duke Human Rights Center. "The partnership between the Human Rights Archive and SAF brings this history into view at a time when the issues involved -- fair wages, immigration and safety for these important workers -- are at the forefront of a presidential campaign."

The exhibits are co-sponsored by SAF, the Duke University Libraries, the Center for Documentary Studies, the Franklin Humanities Institute BorderWorks Lab, the Duke University Service Learning Program, and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.