Power from the Past

Memory Work Research Initiative

Mop Man at Toyota, 1992

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Black and white image of an outdoor street theater performance. On the left side, a luchero character with tights, a cape, and a Justice for Janitors t-shirt, with another shirt cut into a mask. He is known as Mop Man and wields his mop at the man on the right side acting as the sleazy boss. In the middle stands a beautiful woman this a scarf wrapped around her shoulders, clutching mop man's arm. Behind them are protest banners and palms tree and office buildings.

The superhero Mop Man rescues a female janitor from an abusive male employer in this protest performance. The theme of the helpless female dropped out of the union’s public presentations as real women took on active roles in promoting union mobilizations. More images from J4J available in the SEIU-USWW records (Collection 1940), UCLA Library Special Collections.