Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee members picketing in front of Filipino Community Hall as part of the Delano Grape Strike on September 24, 1965. Henry Richards Media Archive.
|
On September 8, 1965, over 800 Filipino farmworkers affiliated with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) went on strike across ten grape vineyards around Delano, California. Although the strikers worried that farm owners would hire Mexican workers to replace them, the Mexican American-led National Farm Workers Association instead joined their strike. Together as the new United Farm Workers, they held together a five-year-long strike and a successful call to boycott California grapes. The farm owners eventually gave in, agreeing to better working conditions and pay for the workers. The success of the boycott led to more frequent and impactful activism among farm workers and helped inspire the formation of the Chicano movement among Mexican Americans.
|
Sources to Get Started |
|