The Front Page Farm Workers: The Relationship Between the United Farm Workers and the Print Media During the Delano Grape Strike of 1965-1970

An examination of the UFW\u27s interactions with the media is important not only because of how the media contributed to the success of the movement but because what the country remembers of the union, its history and its successes, is based on what was written at the time. Thus, it is important to realize that this record did not develop in a vacuum: in the case of the grape boycott, it was created and molded by the interactions between and influences of the union, the media, the context in which the events were happening, and, of course, the media\u27s audience. In many ways, the UFW\u27s strike of the table grape farmers was organized to capture national attention: a penitential march from Sacramento to Delano in 1966, Chavez\u27s twenty-five day fast in 1968, and, more importantly, non-violent protests and a nationwide grape boycott. The farm workers\u27 strike, although it continued until the UFW\u27s victory in 1970, was eventually rendered ineffective due to the growers\u27 use of imported strikebreakers from Mexico. The national boycott soon became the only way for the UFW to place economic pressure on the growers, the UFW needed the support of America\u27s consumers in order to win. They enforced and popularized the boycott by sending union members across the country to picket outside of grocery stores and distribution centers, bringing the issue into the lives of American citizens and into their newspapers. The media played a critical role in the eventual capitulation by the Delano grape growers and the resulting union contracts between the UFW and the growers, the union facilitated and was an active agent in creating the media coverage