This was an important strike by the very poor and marginalized Chicano (Mexican American) workers, supported by wider union action to boycott handling grapes and by a consumer boycott, so it has attracted widespread interest on the left. Because of the emphasis on maintaining nonviolence, especially by the leading figure Cesar Chavez, it is also well covered in books on nonviolent action.
You are here
A.1.a.i. California Grape Pickers' Strike and Boycott Campaign, 1965-1970
Volume Two -> A. Campaigns for Social and Economic Justice -> A.1. Campaigns by Workers -> A.1.a. Selected Strikes -> A.1.a.i. California Grape Pickers' Strike and Boycott Campaign, 1965-1970
Bardacke, Frank, Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers Union, London and New York, Verso, 2011, pp. 840
Very detailed account and analysis by former civil rights activist who also worked in the fields for six seasons 1971 and 1979, charting contradictions within the movement and the role of Chavez, based on hundreds of field reports and first hand experience.
Dalton, John Frederick, The Moral Vision of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement, New York, Harcourt Brace, 1988, pp. 350
Day, Mark, Forty Acres: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers, New York, Praeger, 1971, pp. 222
Ferris, Susan ; Sandoval, Ricardo, The Fight for the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers Movement, (Foreword by Gary Soto), New York, Harcourt Brace and Co, 1998, pp. 352
Well documented and illustrated account of movement.
Jenkins, Craig, The Politics of Insurgency: The Farm Workers Movement in the 1960s, New York, Columbia University Press, 1985, pp. 261
Levy, Jacques, Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa, New York, W.W. Norton, 1975, pp. 546
Merriman, Hardy, Californian Grape Workers’ Strike and Boycott 1965-1970, In Sharp, Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential (A. 1.b. Strategic Theory, Dynamics, Methods and Movements), Boston, Porter Sargent, pp. 173-187
Orosco, José-Antonio, Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence, Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico Press, 2008, pp. 160
Rosales, Francisco Arturo, Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, Houston TX, Arte Publico, 1997, pp. 304
Rose, Margaret, Women Power Will Stop these Grapes: Chicana Organizers and Middle Class Female Supporters in the Farmworkers’ Grape Boycott in Philadelphia, 1969-70, Journal of Women's History, issue Winter, 1995, pp. 8-33
Taylor, Ronald B., Chavez and the Farm Workers, Boston, Beacon Press, 1975, pp. 342
Includes assessment of impact of grape pickers’ strike on immigrant labour in other industries.
The online version of Vol. 1 of the bibliography was made possible due to the generous support of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). ICNC is an independent, non-profit educational foundation that develops and encourages the study and use of civilian-based, nonmilitary strategies aimed at establishing and defending human rights, democratic self-rule and justice worldwide.
For more information about ICNC, please see their website.
The online version of Vol. 2 of the bibliography was made possible due to the generous support of The Network for Social Change. The Network for Social Change is a group of individuals providing funding for progressive social change, particularly in the areas of justice, peace and the environment.
For more information about The Network for Social Change, please visit their website.
esistance.info
