From the 1970s to the 1990s, street vendors in Puebla, Mexico, had to be creative to defend their right to make a living in public spaces. They even used theater and film to convey their messages to the larger society.

Sandra C. Mendiola Garcia, associate professor of history, explores their organizing tactics in Street Democracy: Vendors, Violence and Public Space in Late Twentieth-Century Mexico, part of The Mexican Experience series (University of Nebraska Press).

"Millions of people in Mexico and other parts of the world make a living in the informal economy," she says. "I wanted to tell the stories of street vendors' lives, dreams and how they organized politically."