Working with supporters
The farmworkers sought and received widespread support from both ordinary and prominent people
which helped counter the influence of the growers.
which helped counter the influence of the growers.
Larry Itliong marching with Cesar Chavez and Walter Reuther, President of the United Auto Workers (UAW). (Photo from Image Galleries -The Labor Movement and Organizations - United Farm Workers - Walter Reuther Library)
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Larry Itliong, Andy Imutan, and Philip Vera Cruz with Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (Photo from Farmworker Movement Online Gallery)
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Pete Velasco (Photo and Caption from the Farmworker Movement Online Gallery)
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“(O)n the basis of mature consideration and consultation, I feel compelled personally and dramatically to identify myself with the interests and needs of those thousands of grape pickers and their families in and around Delano who, for many weeks, have been conducting a strike in an attempt to bring the growers to the bargaining table . . . the strikers have pledged themselves to and almost without exception have actually practiced nonviolence - something new and certainly most admirable in the history of labor disputes...It doesn’t take too much imagination to compare the situation which now exists in Delano to that which existed earlier in Selma . . . The strikers want and need help now . . . I believe we - the National Catholic Rural Life Conference - have to put it on the line now – or, at least, that my convictions dictate that I have to." |
"The participation of activist Catholic Priests in the March to Sacramento was important to the farmworkers." (Photo and Caption from the Farmworker Movement Online Gallery)
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"Chris Hartmire, Executive Director, CMM (Later AKA: NFWM)" (Photo and Caption from Farmworker Movement Online Gallery)
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"From the beginning of the strike we have been accused of taking sides in an economic struggle. We accept that position on the side of the workers. Where else should the servant community be when power is too much on one side and injustice and suffering result? We have taken sides because the farm workers need help if they are to be strong enough to bring about equal bargaining with their employers. Their cause is reasonable and just. They have pursued that cause non-violently. Their employers want to maintain the present unbalanced situation. The workers desperately need help from all men of good will."
- REV. WAYNE C. HARTMIRE, JR. Director, California Migrant Ministry From “WHAT FORM: SERVANTHOOD AMONG SEASONAL FARM WORKERS?” (1969) |