The Impact of Music on the Farm Worker Movement

The Delano grape strike lasted for five years. Although it is impossible to identify one specific thing or factor that explains what kept the farm workers united for so long, music was a significant part of the movement’s success. Jannis “Jan” Peterson was 19 when she joined the movement in 1968 as a volunteer. She recalls the importance of music to the movement:

Songs were the life-blood of our work with the Farm Workers’ Union. There were many times on the UFW picket lines that songs were all that we had … We sang when we were sad or discouraged; we sang when we were angry or defiant; we sang when we were proud; we sang to lift our spirits. ¹

The anthem of the farm worker movement was the Mexican folk song “De Colores.” Kathy Lynch Murguia recalls how the song inspired hope: 

Every meeting ended with us joining hands and singing De Colores, which enhanced a sense of community, of being connected in a struggle for justice … For me, singing De Colores felt powerful … We were part of a Movement, and in small incremental ways, we believed we were changing the course of history …

Abby Rivera was 17 when she joined the farm worker movement. For her, the song “De Colores” brought a sense of renewal: 

[We] would begin to sing, and after the first few lines my entire demeanor and attitude would change. By the time the song was over, a total transformation of my spirit would occur, making me glad that I had sung it … It came to be considered my spiritual cleansing song, because the words reached deep into my soul and took me to another place where things are perfect, in harmony, of like mind and purpose.

Teach a Facing History lesson featuring this resource: Building and Sustaining Unity in the Farm Workers Movement: Supporting Question 3.

• 1Quotations from Terry Scott and Jan Peterson, The UFW: Songs and Stories Sung and Told by UFW Volunteers (2004), Farmworker Movement Documentation Project, University of California San Diego, accessed March 27, 2025. Jan Peterson photo: Farmworker Movement Online Gallery; Kathy Lynch Murguia photo: ; Abby Flores Rivera photo: Farmworker Movement Online Gallery, Farmworker Movement Documentation Project, UCSD.