Trikosko, Marion S. Grape Strike and Boycott, Bumper Sticker. 1970. Photograph. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016646404/.
This primary source is a valuable tool as it provides visual background knowledge for students who are studying migrant workers and labor unions. It also creates a platform for students to engage in inquiry surrounding Hispanic civil rights, to discuss the historical figures who fought for better wages and working conditions, and to elicit change in their communities.
The photograph is a part of the U.S. News & World Report magazine photograph collection of the Library of Congress. American photojournalist Marion S. Trikosko captured photographs of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout the 1970s, she worked additionally for the New York Times and U.S. News & World Report and took this photograph of a bumper sticker in support of boycotting grapes related to the Delano Grape Strike against grape growers in California.
In 1965, Filipino and Mexican migrant workers on grape farms in the San Joaquin Valley in California went on strike to demand higher wages and better working conditions. Led by labor activists César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, the Delano Grape Strike highlighted issues facing migrant farm workers including lack of sufficient housing, health care, and education for their children. Consumers across the country were encouraged to boycott lettuce and grapes, an effort that resulted in a loss of 30 to 40 percent of grape sales. By 1970, most grape growers agreed to negotiate with the United Farm Workers, creating a 6 percent salary increase and recognition of the right of the union to mediate on the behalf of farmworkers in the future.
- What do you notice or wonder about the bumper sticker in the photograph?
- In what time period was this photograph taken? How do you know?
- What do the grapes symbolize on the bumper sticker?
- Why would someone put this bumper stick on their car?
- What kind of influence do you think this bumper sticker might have?
Common Core State Standards and C3 Framework
RH.6-8.7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
D2.Civ.6.6-8. Describe the roles of political, civil, and economic organizations in shaping people’s lives.
RH.6-8.9: Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
D2.Geo.4.6-8. Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
- Students can use this primary source to examine the economic structure of farming in the 1970s and how a bumper sticker like this one might influence state and national economies.
Literacy.SL.8.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- Students could examine this primary source and then work in a small group to build a comprehensive understanding of the aim of the photo.
D2.His.14.6-8: Explain multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past.
- Primary-source photographs give students another perspective on the precursor to the Hispanic Civil Rights Movement. This photo, included in Lot 906, can serve as an introduction to the struggles that Mexican workers and their families faced. As a springboard for inquiry, teachers can utilize the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) in order to engage students in developing questions about what they notice and wonder. The QFT also gives students the opportunity to prioritize their questions, to create an action plan, and to discuss next steps, such as further research. After students synthesize information learned, they can present their findings through a jigsaw activity, a quickwrite, a slideshow presentation, or any other medium.
- As an introduction to a novel study in this time period, the primary-source photograph can also serve as background information. The inquiry just described pairs well with Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez, winner of the National Book Award in 1996. Topics related to the harsh working conditions, as well as racial discrimination and low wages, are clearly illustrated. Students can compare and contrast the conflicts in the novel and those in the primary sources through small-group discussion and written extended responses.
- Finally, students can further research the effects of the Delano Grape Strike and explore the social, economic, and political challenges during the time period. Consider having small groups create a newscast to inform their peers about what they learned and then connect it to events happening in the world today. Additional class or small-group questions could include the following:
- What were the economic and social implications of the Delano Grape Strike for Mexican migrant families?
- How did the strike affect the farm industry of the United States?
- Why did people who were not migrant farm workers agree to boycott lettuce and grape producers?
- How can people work together to raise their voices and demand the rights they have been denied?
- The history of the poor treatment of Mexican migrant workers can present challenges, depending on the state and the climate of a school district. Navigating sensitive topics such as immigration, ensuring accurate representation of different struggles and movements, and actively sourcing diverse materials to provide a full and authentic historical account are important practices that afford the potential for students to have a deeper understanding of the time period.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- Edutopia provides an article sharing how to approach these topics with students: “Incorporating Lessons on Activism During Hispanic Heritage Month”.
- Primary-source photo of sugar workers on strike at a mill in Puerto Rico
- Primary-source photo of the effects of the California Cotton Pickers Strike: “During this strike, the father, a striking picker, has left his wife and child in the car while he applies to the Farm Security Administration for an emergency food grant. Shafter, California” (Library of Congress description)
- Primary-source photo of a milk strike, part of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photograph Collection
- Facing History and Ourselves: “Chicano! Episode 2: The Struggle in the Fields”
- This episode of Chicano! chronicles the efforts of farm workers to form a national labor union under the nonviolent leadership of César Chávez.
- Library of Congress: “A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States”
- Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino: “Hispanic Heritage Month Resources”
- Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino—“Latino Civil Rights”
- United Farm Workers