United Farm Workers commemorates 50th anniversary of march from Delano to Sacramento
Farmworkers started walking March 17, 1966
Strike lasted five years in protest of poor pay and working conditions
Farmworkers who walked from Delano to Sacramento starting on March 17, 1966, will gather Thursday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic march.
That day, 75 Latino and Filipino grape workers led by Cesar Chavez took off on the 340-mile march. They were greeted at the Capitol 25 days later by 10,000 people in support of their plight.
A strike had started Sept. 8, 1965, when Filipino farmworkers walked out on Delano grape growers to protest years of poor pay and working conditions. Mexican workers joined them shortly after. Six months later, they started the trek to Sacramento.
The strike lasted more than five years and grew to include an international boycott by consumers of nonunion grapes. It ended with victory for what became the United Farm Workers – the first contract between growers and farmworkers in U.S. history.
Thursday at 10 a.m., a few hundred people will assemble at the Forty Acres property outside Delano for Mass, among them more than a dozen of the original marchers and family members of those who have since died. At 11 a.m. a ceremony sponsored by UFW will celebrate the 50th anniversary.
Luis Valdez, co-founder of El Teatro Campesino who performed music and theater during the pilgrimage, will be host of the event.
Andrea Castillo: 559-441-6279, @andreamcastillo
DELANO MARCH 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Who: Activists, 1966 marchers and their families; playwright/director Luis Valdez; UFW President Arturo Rodriguez; civil rights and farm labor icon Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul Chavez
What: Mass and ceremony honoring the original marchers 50 years to the day the 25-day trek started
When: 10 a.m. Mass, 11 a.m. ceremony, Thursday, March 17
Where: The historic Forty Acres property, 30168 Garces Highway in Delano