Over the course of the week long program, teacher participants will have the chance to visit several rural landmark sites related to California farm labor history. The program will unfold chronologically by exploring diverse history of migrant agricultural labor populations since the early twentieth century. The farm labor experience in the San Joaquin Valley is a multiracial and multicultural story. The landmark site visits listed below reflect the diversity of migrant laboring populations who have labored in the fields of California's San Joaquin Valley.
Site 1: Allensworth, California
Allensworth State Historic Park is located in southern Tulare County and is the only specific African American historical state park in California. Settled in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Allensworth represents a landmark settlement for African American rural migration to the American West. In regards to African American migration in the twentieth century, there is much emphasis on urban migration streams, or the so called âgreat migrationâ from the rural south to the urban north. The history of Allensworth sheds important light on the significance of rural-to-rural African American migrations in the American West. The founding of Allensworth occurred within a larger historical context related to black self-determination, Garveyism, and Jim Crow racial segregation in the United States.
Site 2: Arvin, California
The historic Sunset (Weedpatch) Labor camp located in Arvin, California was the setting for John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. The history of the Sunset Labor Camp illuminates the importance of migrant agricultural labor, predominantly from the southern states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The Sunset Labor camp is still a functioning labor camp for migrant workers and more recently for housing-challenged women and their children. In addition, the site is of great cultural and historical significance for the larger southern diaspora related to Okie migration, country music, and agricultural labor.
Site 3: Delano, California
Delano has a number of historical sites associated with international migration and agricultural labor history. The sites chosen specifically take advantage of on-going work by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FAHNS). The latter organizations' Delano chapter has been active in conducting public history tours of sites, especially focused on the seminal role of Filipino American farm labor within this history. Specific sites to be visited include the historic 40 acres location (original home of the United Farm Workers), Agbayani Village (historic retirement home of the Filipino âmanongâ generation of farm workers), Our Lady of Guadalupe Church (location of vote for Delano Grape Strike), Larry Itliong gravesite, and Filipino Community Hall (original headquarters of Delano grape strike and boycott). These sites collectively highlight the role of interethnic and interracial collaboration within the American labor and civil rights movement.
Site 4: Keene, California
The National Cesar Chavez Center located in Keene, California, just east of Bakersfield, is a place of historical significance. Part of the National Parks Service, the Chavez Center, or âLa Pazâ as it is also known, became the administrative headquarters of the United Farm Workers in the 1970s. Today, La Paz is a national landmark for the public to learn more about migrant labor, the Delano Grape Strike and Boycott, as well as the broader history of agricultural labor and rural struggle for labor and civil rights. La Paz will provide an engaging learning experience for participants to learn more about the national and international significance of California's rural farm worker movement.
Program Schedule
5-6:30: Dinner on your own
6:30-9:00 Screening & Discussion of Adios Amor: The Search for Maria Moreno
with Filmmaker Laurie Coyle. (Location: Classroom building @ CSUB East Campus Housing)
Landmark Sites: Allensworth State Historic Park
Theme: African American Migration in the American Far West; Agriculture; Racial Segregation
Guiding Questions: How is the history of Allensworth representative of both the virulent history
of Jim Crow discrimination in California, while at the same time, serve as a testament to the
remarkable achievements of black men and women in American public life?
Reading/Media:
Michael Eissinger, âGrowing Along the Side of the Road: African American Settlements in Central California," Journal of the West;
"We Are Not Strangers Here: Allensworth & The Black Utopian Dream," Cal Ag Roots Podcast (2021);
"Teviston: A Black Okie Community," Ernie Lowe Photography Collection.
GoogleDrive: âThe Best Proposition Made to Negroes in the Stateâ: Building an All-Black Town,â in West of Jim Crow: The Fight Against California's Color Line.
Education Readings: Read Gruenewald & Yosso articles
7:30 Depart CSU Bakersfield
8:45 Arrive at Allensworth State Historic Park
9:00 Welcome by Sasha Briscoe, Friends of Allensworth
9:15 Guided Tour of Historic Allensworth
11:45 Lunch on site & Group Discussion
1:00 Introduction; Place Based Teaching Workshop
2:45 Depart for CSUB
4:00 Arrive @CSUB (No host dinner)
Landmark Sites: Sunset Labor Camp (Arvin, CA)
Theme: Okie migration, agricultural labor, culture and music
Guiding Questions: How do the cultural histories of black and white southern migrants to the
San Joaquin Valley converge, diverge, and intersect?
Reading/Media:
Westward Migration and the Bakersfield Sound," CSPAN;
Google Drive: Excerpts from Gabriel Thompson, America's Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century; James Gregory, American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California; John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.
Education Readings: C3 standards
Schedule (*updated itinerary will be announced in person)
7:30 AM Depart CSU Bakersfield
8:00 Arrive at Sunset Labor Camp
8:15-10:00 Ground tour of Weedpatch Camp
10:15 Depart
11-1: Presentation & Lunch with Robert Price (Time and Location TBD*)
3:00-5:00 C3 Workshop with Dr. Brittney Beck (Location TBD)
5:15 Adjourn
Landmark Sites: Agbayani Village, Forty Acres, Larry Itliong Gravesite, Filipino Hall, Our
Lady of Guadalupe Church (Delano, CA)
Theme: Labor and Civil Rights Movement, Farm Labor, Interracial Coalitions
Guiding Questions: How does the Filipino âmanongâ generation experience compare/contrast
with other migrant farm laborers and why is the âmanongâ experience less well-known in the
United States?
ReadingMedia:
"Our Friend, Larry Itliong" Music Video by AJ Rafael
Google Drive:Excerpts from John Dunne, Delano: The Story of the California Grape Strike;
Education Reading: Sawyer, Rosales, et. al. article
Schedule
7:30 AM Depart CSU Bakersfield
8:00 Arrive at Bakersfield College (BC) Delano Campus
8:15 Meet with Fil. Am. Historical Society (Fil Bak + Coffee) @ BC Delano classroom DST 1104
8:30-9:00 Screening of Delano Manongs
9:15-11:45 Begin Guided Tour of Delano sites with FANHS
12:00-2:00 PM No Host Lunch (Stop 1: Delano Marketplace; Stop 2: Downtown Delano)
2:00 Depart to CSU Bakersfield
3:30 Afternoon Seminar with Mark Arax
5:30 Adjourn
Landmark Sites: National Chavez Center (La Paz) (Keene, CA)
Theme: Labor and Civil Rights, Farm Labor, Interracial Coalitions
Guiding Questions: What strategies of resistance did farm workers adopt during the civil rights
era? What role did multi-ethnic coalition building play in the farm worker movement?
Reading/Media:
"Cesar Chavez, the Farmworker Movement, and the Legacy of Ghandi's Commitment to Nonviolent Activism," short documentary with Marc Grossman (begin @ 2 min. - 30 min. mark)
Google Drive: Excerpts from LeRoy Chatfield, To Serve the People: My Life Organizing with Cesar Chavez and the Poor
Schedule
7:30 AM Depart CSU Bakersfield
8:30 Arrive at La Paz
8:45 Guided Tour of grounds with Andres Chavez
10:00 Tour of National Chavez Center
11:30 Lunch
1:00 Reflective Seminar
2:30-4:00 On site reception
Depart to CSUB @ 4:30
6pm No Host Dinner
8:30 All Group Discussion @ CSUB East Campus Housing Multipurpose Room (MPR)
9:00 Group Breakouts
10:00 Group Presentations
12:30 Adjourn
Photo Credit
"No on 22" UFW artwork, Lamont, California (1983). Photo courtesy of John Harte;