By mid-September, the UFW won the right to represent 4,500 workers at 24 farms, while the Teamsters won the right to represent 4,000 workers at 14 farms. There was no hope of victory any time soon. of the Strike to Bring Fair Wages for Farm Workers: RFK, Jr. The bad publicity from the boycott also hurt the companys image. 1965 1075, Group of Native-American political activists who used confrontation with the federal government to publicize their case for Indian rights, members represent mainly urban Indian communities, made to monitor law enforcement practices like police harassment and brutality, inspired new publications and local chapters, AIM made even known as the Trail of Broken Treaties, AI moved to the Pine Ridge Reservation, the site of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, AIM activists demanded the removal of the leader of the Oglala Lakota These are the handouts, available in English and Spanish, that students use throughout the one 50-min class period lesson plan. By 1969, grape sales in the United States had dropped 3040% as a result of the strike and boycott. In 1968, in an attempt to "draw attention to the violence being used against the striking farm workers and to reaffirm his belief for nonviolence," NBC News reports that Chavez started a fast that lasted 25 days. 3d. Unfortunately, this time the boycott didn't have its original effectiveness. From the beginning this would be a different kind of strike. In 1966, Chavez led the Delano strikers on a 300-mile long march from Delano to Sacramento, according to Asian American Activism. Interaction Again following the example of Gandhi, Cesar announced in February 1968, he was fasting to rededicate the movement to nonviolence. Two veteran organizers, Larry Itliong and Ben Gines, led the strike. He didnt teach people by lecturing or by telling them what to do. "United States capital interests wanted Asian male workers but not their families, because detaching the male worker from a heterosexual family structure meant he would be cheaper labor.". Nonetheless, in the fall of 1965, thousands of workers in the Delano grape fields voted in favor of striking This article explores the early months of the strike as well as the successful consumer boycott campaign initiated by the National Farm Workers Association. Ask students to select one image that they think represents one of the strategies from the list you generated on the board. Just three years old, the young organization was still finding its footing - both financially and in the community. In December, union representatives traveled from California to New York, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Detroit, and other large cities to encourage a boycott of grapes grown at ranches without UFW contracts. To be a man is to suffer for others. Here, measures of those laws are laid out. Cesars union voted to join the Filipino workers walkouts on Mexican Independence Day, September 16, 1965. But refusing to let the growers divide the workers, Itliong and fellow striker Andy Imutan reached out to Cesar Chavez, leader of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), writes the Zinn Education Project. The strike drew unprecedented support from outside the Central Valley, from other unions, church activists, students, Latinos and other minorities, and civil rights groups. [36] This led to conflict with the Teamsters union, in the Salinas Valley. Hundreds of grape strikers traveled across the U.S. and Canada, telling their stories and organizing mass support for the grape boycott. Dolores Huerta and Csar Chvez used nonviolent action in their efforts to push for farmworkers rights. The Delano grape strike lasted five years, which included an international boycott of table grapes. The Story of the California Grape Strike JOHN GREGORY DUNNE Noonday 346 $1.95. We recommend using the teaching strategies below to engage your students throughout this lesson. The result of the vote favored the union representation of the UFW, a 530 to 332 vote, against the representation of The Teamsters, which was the only union that was competing against the UFW in the election. Delano grape strike (1965-1970), US v. Wheeler (1978) . John Gregory Dunne. People driving by in trucks would shoot at and wound workers at the picket line, according to The New York Times, and police also arrested hundreds of workers for violating picket line injunctions as well as assault charges. [21] This pushed Itliong, who was the leader of the AWOC, to organize Filipino farm workers and pressure growers into granting them higher wages and better working conditions. Christina_Frost79. She was one of three children born to activist parents. Such tactics had long been an effective check on union power. The Filipinos asked Cesar Chavez, who led a mostly Latino farm workers union, the National Farm Workers Association . Chavez had organized the NFWA around the premise that the farm workers struggle was part of a much broader movement for civil rights. My List. The strike lasted until 1970, when most grape growers signed contracts with the United Farm Workers union. [28], Despite the successes achieved by the UFW, there were also negative outcomes that farm workers experienced. The Tidings: US civil rights milestone marked at Delano's historic Forty Acres. He once wrote, However important the struggle is and however much misery, poverty and exploitation exist, we know that it cannot be more important than one human life. Cesar also quoted Gandhi, who said, Do something! On September 8 th, 1965, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a majority Filipino labor group, initiated a strike against Delano grape growers amidst cries of "welga!" (the Tagalog word for "strike").The purpose of the strike was to get union contracts, higher pay, and improved working conditions. It was a bold move. This visual history details how Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez helped found the United Farm Workers and led one of the most successful union . The Global Nonviolent Action Database writes that picketers were attacked by dogs, sprayed with pesticides, threatened by cars. America Jenkins, J. Craig. [29] Chavez sent two workers and a student activist to follow a grape shipment from one of the picketed growers to the end destination at the Oakland docks. But Cesar and the farm workers showed ordinary people that by making little sacrifices every dayby not eating grapesthey could directly help the poorest of the poor. He changed the face of agricultural labor in California. Johnson made the decision to engage the US in a major war in Vietnam, at first hoped to stay on course, faced presidential election in 1964, knew major military setback would cripple his election campaign, determined to avoid Truman's fate, worse conditions in South Vietnam, Johnson laid groundwork for a sustained campaign against North Vietnam, in August found pretext to set plan in motion, US destroyers in Gulf of Tonkin reported attacks by North Vietnam, Johnson ordered air strikes against bases in North Vietnam, appealed to Congress to pass resolution giving him authority to take all necessary measures and steps to defend US forces and protect SE Asia, Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed the Senate on Aug 7 with only two dissenting votes and moved unanimously through House, call for restraint in Vietnam, assured voters, this helped him win a landslide victory over conservatives Republican Barry Goldwater of Arizona, faced hard decision, limited bomb raids against North Vietnam did not slow the Communist Vietcong across the border into the South, president chose to increase US involvement in Vietnam massively, Request to Congress from President Lyndon Johnson in response to North Vietnamese torpedo boat attacks in which he sought authorization for "all necessary measures" to protest American forces and stop further aggression, Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed the Senate on Aug 7 with only two dissenting votes and moved unanimously through House, Johnson ordered immediate reprisal bombing and one week later, authorized Operation Rolling Thunder , campaign of gradually intensifying air attacks against North Vietnam, once begun Johnson found it hard to speak frankly with the American public about his policies, Network coverage of the war damaged Johnson's popularity, scenes of death and devastation undermined moral justification for the war, coverage in the print media came more skeptical of Johnson over time, Scenes of human suffering and devastation recorded by TV undermined the admin's moral justification of the war, 1960s, network news had ignored Vietnam or supportive of US policy, news of reporting changed, CBS showed pictures of marines setting fire to homes of civilians, President Johnson complained bitterly about news director, 1967, every subject tended to become Vietnam, TV news reports told of new methods of American cluster bombs and showed the effects of the forces, coverage in print media, vocal critics, Various alternatives to mainstream values and behaviors that became popular in the 1960s, including experimentation with psychedelic drugs, communal living a return to the land, Asian religions, and experimental art, Young adults takes out a new form of community, a counterculture, Drugs played large part in this counterculture, Music played large part in defining the counterculture, rock n' roll in 1950s, popular music expressed in the generational identity, Beatles in 1964, NY, more than 400 K people gathered in Aug in 1969 for a 3-day rock concert and to give witness to the ideals of the counterculture, many drugs, Most ambitious reform program since the New Deal, office of Economic Opportunity launched a War on Poverty, program had mixed results, 1964 State of the Union message, Johnson announced his plans to make a Great Society, used political momentum of the civil rights movement and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to push the most ambitious reform program since the New Deal, 1964 the Economic Opportunity Act launched the War on Poverty, North Vietnamese and their Vietcong allies launched the Tet Offensive, Vietcong pushed into the major cities and capitals of the South, US troops halted the offensive, North Vietnamese and Vietcong suffered more than 40K deaths, civilian causalities ran to hundreds of thousands, about 1 million South Vietnamese became refugees, Tet Offensive shattered the credibility of American officials who repeatedly claimed the enemy to be virtually beaten, TV and press coverage dismayed the public, US had chalked up a major military victory during the Tet Offensive but los the war at home, polls showed strong opposition to war, 49% saying it was a mistake, majority believed that the stalemate was hopeless,Tet Offensive opened a year of political drama at home, Black Power-philosophy emerging after 1965 that real economic and political gains for African Americans could come only through self-help, self-determination, and organizing for direct political influence, NY Police raided the Stonewall Inn, next day Gay Power was seen in the neighborhood, Young Mexican Americans adopted the slang term Chicano, to express a militant ethnic nationalism, demanded equality with whites and recognition of their distinctive culture and history, Students played a large role in this movement, blowouts or strikes to demand educational reform and a curricular emphasis on the history, literature, art and language of Mexican Americans, 15K students from LA schools went on strike against poor educational facilities, police did mass arrest, 1969, Mexican Independence Day, high schools skipped classes in the First National Chicano Boycott, students organized to demand Mexican American studies in classes, 1969, sit in at UCB, Chicano nationalism inspired a variety of regional political movement in the 1960s, Mexican American activists found that economic power remained out of community hands, poverty and many fell back into apathy, collective identity forged among Mexican Americans, Labor activists, spearheaded the organization of Chicano agricultural workers into the United Farm Workers, UFW, the first successful union of migrant workers, 1965, strike of grape pickers in the fields around the Delano, CA and a nationwide boycott of table grapes brought Chavez and the UFW into the media spotlight, advocated nonviolent methods for achieving justice and equality 1968 For 100 years before Cesar Chavez, farm workers tried, and failed, to organize a union. We dont need perfect political systems; we need perfect participation. - Cesar Chavez. The Complete History of the Famed Delano Grape Strike. Politics In the beginning, it was only Filipino-American labor organizer Larry Itliongs creation of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), mostly made up of Filipinos. While Chavez took the limelight, the historical record of Itliong, a co-founder and former assistant director, faded and became overlooked. A poster calling for a boycott of Delano grapes detailed some of the violence that strikers had experienced, which also included being prevented from entering labor camps to talk with other workers, and being forced to attend anti-UFW meetings, or else risk losing their jobs. Politics and Culture in Modern America. He recruited many people and eventually was asked to move to Delano to lead Filipino grape farmers. In the summer of 1966, unions and religious groups from Seattle and Portland endorsed the boycott. 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