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Before the UFW
In the twentieth century, large growers have dominated the agricultural industry in many parts of the United States. They own thousands of acres of land and rely upon large numbers of seasonal laborers to plant, tend and harvest their crops. Most farm workers have been immigrants from such places as China, Japan, India, the Philippines and Mexico. Since World War II, the majority of seasonal farm workers in America have been Mexican and Mexican American.
Many attempts have been made to organize farm laborers in the United States. Early in this century, the Industrial Workers of the World organized hundreds of workers in the fields of California, Arizona and the Great Plains. In 1934, during the Great Depression, the Southern Tenants Farmers' Union was formed. Over the years, land owners defeated most organizing attempts by importing other immigrant workers, firing union sympathizers and engaging in vigilantism. By 1960, only a few small farm worker unions were active.
A family of onion planters, 1920s
Migratory farm workers without jobs lived on the open road, traveling from farm to farm, 1930s