John Kouns

John Kouns (September 21, 1929 – January 5, 2019) was a photographer and social justice activist who played an important role in documenting the United Farm Workers movement and the Civil Rights Movement.

Early life

Kouns was born in Alameda, California, in 1929 and grew up in the Santa Clara Valley in a middle class family. Despite an apolitical family background, he developed a strong sense of social justice. served in the U.S. Navy in the early 1950s during the Korean War, and later attended the New York Institute of Photography, That same year Kouns met Jim Drake, an influential union organizer, and became involved in the California Migrant Ministry. Along with other farmworker photographers such as Jon Lewis and Gerhard Gscheidle, Kouns never considered himself a neutral or objective photojournalist; he carried a picket sign as well as a camera.

Exhibitions

An American Leader: Cesar E. Chavez, Anaheim Museum, November 2000-April 2001. An American Leader: Cesar E. Chavez, Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture, Los Angeles, April 29-August 18, 2000. Hope and Dignity for Farmworkers, Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, November–December 2022. Hope and Dignity: The Farmworker Movement, Museum of Social Justice, Los Angeles, August 15, 2024 – January 26, 2025.