Filipino workers in Imperial Valley, California, Library of Congress, 1936
A Frontier for Workers’ Rights:
The Delano Grape Strike and Boycott
Thesis
As the United States expanded its international frontier in the early 1900s, thousands of immigrants from the Philippines and Mexico came to work in California’s grape farms. However, farm owners subjected these immigrants to exploitative work environments and low wages. Demanding adequate working conditions, the immigrant farmworkers collectively struck and boycotted grape farms in 1965. The Delano Grape Strike created new frontiers in US labor activism, catalyzing broader movements for workers' rights and emphasizing collective grassroots movements in achieving social justice.
Cesar Chavez with grape-pickers from the United Farm Workers Union, Time magazine, 1968
Farmworkers march from Delano to Sacramento, San Fransisco Chronicle, 1966
Marina Peng, Senior Division, Individual Website