California Grape Workers’ Strike: 1965–66

About This Lesson

In this lesson, students will learn about the initial phase of the grape workers’ strike that occurred in California’s San Joaquin Valley from 1965 to 1966. The strike lasted until 1970, when most grape growers signed contracts with the United Farm Workers union. After exploring images related to the farmworkers' movement, students will watch a video that explains the events that occurred in the first year of the strike. Then, students will analyze the strategies used during this period of the farmworkers’ movement and reflect on the impact these strategies had.

Essential Questions

How can people work together to raise their voices and demand the rights they have been denied?

Learning Objectives

• Students will reflect on the impact it has when groups are made invisible to the rest of society.
• Students will explore the events of the first year (1965–66) of the Delano grape strike.
• Students will analyze the strategies used in the farmworkers’ movement.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Warm Up Journal Response

• Tell students that in this lesson, they will be learning about a strike organized by farmworkers on vineyards in Delano, California. One of the organizers of this strike, Dolores Huerta, gave a speech at a rally in Sacramento, California, on April 10, 1966. Read aloud or project this excerpt from her speech:
  Today our farm workers have come to Sacramento. To the governor and the legislature of California we say you cannot close your eyes and your ears to us any longer. You cannot pretend that we do not exist. You cannot plead ignorance to our problems because we are here and we embody our need for you. And we are not alone.
• Explain to students that Huerta was part of a movement protesting the inhumane conditions that farmworkers endured. According to the film Prejudice and Pride, which students will watch a clip of in this lesson, these workers were “invisible” to most Americans.
• Ask students to reflect in their journals on the following questions:
  • Write about a time you felt invisible to others. What were the circumstances? What made you feel invisible? How did you respond?
  • What might be the consequences if an entire group is made to feel invisible or ignored?

Activity 2: Explore Images of Farmworkers

• Tell students that in this activity, they will be exploring images related to the farmworkers’ movement in California. 
• Before viewing the images, briefly go over the events of the strike, using the California Grape Workers’ Strike Timeline to provide students with context.
• Explain the Gallery Walk and See, Think, Wonder teaching strategies to your students. Ask students to spend 15 minutes examining the five different images that you’ve displayed around the room from Gallery Walk Images: Farmworkers’ Movement. Students should bring a notebook with them and for each image, they should write down answers to the following questions:
  • What do you see? What details stand out?
  • What do you think is going on? What makes you say that?
  • What does this make you wonder? What broader questions does this image raise for you?
• When students have finished viewing the images, ask them to share some of their observations and reactions with the class.

Activity 3: Watch a Video Clip about the California Grape Workers’ Strike

• Distribute the handout California Grape Workers’ Strike Viewing Guide to students, and then place them in small groups of three to four.
• Play the first clip of the film Prejudice and Pride (3:30-7:18). Pause the film and give students time to discuss the corresponding questions on the handout with their groups. 
• Repeat with the remaining two clips from the film (7:18-12:25 and 12:25-18:30). Pause after each clip to give students time to discuss in their small groups.

Activity 4: Analyze Farmworkers’ Strategies

• As a class, drawing on what students learned through watching the video, brainstorm a list of the strategies that the farmworkers used during the strike to push for their rights, and write them on the board. 
• Then, return to the images from Gallery Walk Images: Farmworkers’ Movement that students viewed during the Gallery Walk activity at the beginning of the lesson. 
• Ask students to select one image that they think represents one of the strategies from the list you generated on the board. Students should write a short reflection on the image, using the following prompts:
  • What strategy do you think this image depicts? 
  • What impact did this strategy have on the farmworkers’ movement?

Activity 5: Final Reflection

Use the Think, Pair, Share teaching strategy to lead a final discussion on what students learned during the lesson. Ask students to discuss:

• What strategies did the farmworkers use to call attention to their unjust circumstances? 
• How effective were those strategies? 
• What role did individual workers play in the process? What role did leadership play?