Rio Grande City, Starr County
On June 1, 1966, more than 700 farm workers in Rio Grande City went on strike at the height of melon season demanding a minimum wage of $1.25 per hour and better working conditions. Local labor organizers joined forces with Eugene Nelson, an associate of César Chávez, in the planning and orchestration of the strike under the banner of the Independent Workers Association, an affiliate of the National Farm Workers Union. Farm workers picketed for three months under harsh conditions of oppression and retaliation from law enforcement agents who sided with the growers. However, the strike unified religious institutions and leaders, Mexican American organizations, labor unions, civil rights workers, and the liberal public in support of the farm workers and their demands. On July 4, 1966, a group of 120 marchers began a pilgrimage from Rio Grande City to nearby San Juan Shrine Church to organize support for the march. At this point, the march assumed a broader purpose when participants decided to continue to Austin to advocate in the Capitol for better working conditions and a minimum wage bill. The march gained momentum and solidarity along the way despite harassment from law enforcement and opposition from governor John Connally. At its conclusion, over 10,000 supporters rallied with the marchers at the Capitol in Austin on Labor Day 1966. César Chávez addressed the participants in Zilker Park and celebrated an amazing moment of worker unity. Among the pivotal effects of the 1966 strike and march was the passage in 1969 of the state minimum hourly wage of $1.25. These events sparked a political revolution among Mexican Americans and were a major rallying point for mobilization of the Chicano civil rights movement in Texas. (2016)