Professor Johnson Moderates Fireside Chat with Judge Vasquez About New Film

On Sept. 26, Professor Emeritus Kevin R. Johnson moderated a fireside chat with Judge Emily Vasquez about a new documentary that chronicles her life, "A Job in the Shade: The Emily Vasquez Story." The event took place at UC Berkeley and featured a film screening and discussion with Judge Vasquez, Sacramento's first Latina Superior Superior Court judge. 

The Aoki Center will host an event at King Hall on Oct. 15 with Judge Vasquez discussing the film. 

Documentary trailer and more details:

"A Job in the Shade" explores Judge Vasquez's remarkable journey from the agricultural fields of California to the courtroom...Her parents were poor, immigrant farmworkers from Mexico. As a child, she lived in labor camps and worked in the fields when school was not in session to help supplement the family income. She spent her early years living in tents and one-bedroom shacks with everyone, including her parents sleeping in the same room as her siblings. The bathroom was an outhouse. From her childhood in California’s Central Valley, working alongside her poor farmworker parents, to her groundbreaking legal career, Judge Vasquez’s story is one of resilience, determination, and the transformative power of education.

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson is the director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies and also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law and civil rights.