Oral History

Below you'll find audio from various events during the farmworker movement. Click on the headings to view the audio clips from that event. Files will open in a popup window and play a streaming flash file. Flash plugin required to play files.

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Who Was Cesar Chavez?

Introduction 5 Interviews

Cesar Chavez Oral History

14 Audio Clips

How Difficult It Is To Build A Union - 1966
(Documentary Film: Huelga / 1 minute)
Envisioning A New UFW Legal Department - 1979
(Recorded Meeting: UFW Headquarters / 1 hour)
Speech: Commonwealth Club San Francisco - 1984
(Recording Courtesy of American Rhetoric / 25 minutes)
Legislative Briefing - 1985
(Recorded Interview / 38 minutes)
Pat Hoffman Interview - 1985
(Recorded Interview / 1 hour)
NPR Radio Interview - 1990
(Recorded Interview / 18 minutes)
Legislation Does Not Create Social Change - 1990
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 4 minutes)
Pesticides Kill Farmworkers - 1990
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 4 minutes)
The UFW Boycott - 1990
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 3 minutes)
Bobby Kennedy - 1992
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 1 minute)
Farm Labor & Agribusiness - 1992
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 7 minutes)
Social Justice & Public Policy I - 1992
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 6 minutes)
Social Justice & Public Policy II - 1992
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 10 minutes)
Violence & Nonviolence - 1992
(Harvard University Audio Clip / 2 minutes)

Cesar Chavez: Pacifica Radio Archives

6 Radio Programs

BB2358 The Delano Grape Strike, 1966
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B3147 Cesar Chavez at City College ,1966
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BB2558 An Interview with Cesar Chavez, 1970
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BC0527 The Cesar Chavez Assassination Plot, 1971
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BC0640 An Interview with Cesar Chavez, 1972
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BC1530 In the Fields: Struggles of the Farm Workers Union, the Battle of Coachella, 1973
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Audio in this section courtesy of Pacific Radio Archives

Mark Jonathan Harris Documentary: "HUELGA" – 1966

5 Audio Clips From Documentary Film

Luis Valdez: The Plight of Migrant Workers – 1966
(Huelga Audio Clip / 6 minutes)
Luis Valdez: The March To Sacramento – 1966
(Huelga Audio Clip / 4 minutes)
Narrator: Overview of Delano Grape Strike – 1966
(Huelga Audio Clip / 1 minute)
Ophelia Diaz: Why DiGiorgio Corporation Fired Me – 1966
(Huelga Audio Clip / 3 minutes)
Narrator: First Farmworker Union Contracts – 1966
(Huelga Audio Clip / 1 minute)

Luis Valdez: "THE PLAN OF DELANO" (Spanish) – 1966

El Teatro Campesino de Delano Recording / 6 minutes

Michael Dukakis Debate Moderator: "THE LETTUCE BOYCOTT" – 1970

Recorded: Boston Faneuil Hall / 56 minutes

Rick Tejada-Flores Documentary: "SI SE PUEDE" – 1972

3 Audio Clips From Documentary Film

Father Eugene Boyle: Plight of Arizona Farmworkers – 1972
(Si Se Puede Audio Clip / 1 minute)
Richard Chavez: Explanation of Fast For Love – 1972
(Si Se Puede Audio Clip / 1 minute)
Cesar Chavez: “Dear Brothers and Sisters” – 1972
(Si Se Puede Audio Clip / 1 minute)

Dedication Ceremony: Agbayani Village/Cesar Chavez MC - 1974

9 tapes

Pat Hoffman Farmworker Movement Oral History Archive – 1985

Introduction by Pat Hoffman 33 Recorded Interviews

Eugene Boyle
Father Eugene Boyle worked with the Committee on Justice of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He was one of the first priests to join UFW marches and picket lines and was in jail for two weeks with farmworkers and other religious in 1973.
LeRoy Chatfield
LeRoy Chatfield was a close friend and colleague of Cesar Chavez from 1963 to 1973.
Cesar Chavez
Founder of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) which became the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). The historic nonviolent leader of farmworkers and Latinos.
Jerry Cohen
UFW General Counsel from 1967 to 1979. A key figure in the many legal battles between the UFW , the growers and their powerful allies in government and business.
Loris Coletta
President of Church Women United for Southern California and Nevada. She was an unwavering friend to farmworkers and encouraged support by church women.
Cliff Crummey
United Methodist clergyman. Was Executive Director of the Northern California Council of Churches during the Grape Strike (1968-1972). Rev. Crummey’s father owner of a large agricultural machinery company headquartered in San Jose.
Mark Day
In 1967 Fr. Mark Day, a young Franciscan priest, was sent as pastor to a church in Delano. He became a strong supporter of farmworkers organizing. He later wrote a book, Forty Acres, about the farmworker movement.
Jessie De la Cruz
A founding member of the National Farm Workers Association. First woman organizer in the fields for the NFWA. She and her family have all been strong supporters of the UFW.
Bill and Mitzi Dew
Bill and Mitzi Dew were at the Alamo/San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church, where he was pastor. They spent eleven years working in the San Joaquin Valley and found loving ways to serve church members who were growers and farmworkers who needed change.
Jim Drake - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
A UCC clergyman on the staff of the National Farm Worker Ministry (NFWM). The NFWM assigned him to work directly with Cesar Chavez in the NFWA. He became the most significant link between the NFWA (later the UFW) and the churches as he interpreted the fast moving strike and boycott actions to Rev. Chris Hartmire, Director of the NFWM.
Woody Garvin
Presbyterian pastor who was a UFW supporter in Pasadena, California.
Marshall Ganz
An outstanding organizer who came to the UFW from the civil rights movement. Among other assignments, Marshall was on the boycott staff of the boycott in Canada.
Jean Giordano
Founded the strong and long-lasting NFWM/UFW in Orange County support organization, which still exists today.
Jessica Govea - Part 1 - Part 2
An early strong leader in the UFW. She led the boycott in Canada.
Allan Grant
Was President of California Farm Bureau Federation and President of State Board of Agriculture in 1969. A Presbyterian elder who was active in the San Joaquin Presbytery in 1960’s and 1970’s.
Rose Cecilia Harrington, CSJ
Was Major Superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet and was arrested with the farm workers in Fresno in 1973.
Chris Hartmire - 1984 - 1985
Rev. Wayne “Chris” Hartmire, a Presbyterian clergyman, was the Director of the NFWM for 20 years and then on the staff of the UFW at La Paz, Keene, California.
George Higgins - Part 1 - Part 2
Roman Catholic priest and key member of the Bishops’ Committee. Key Labor movement expert in the Catholic Church. U.S. Catholic Conference staff member.
Karl and Ethelyn Irvin
Karl Irvin was Regional Minister for Disciples of Christ for Northern California and was Chair of the California Migrant Ministry Commission. He and Ethelyn moved to Stockton, California where he was pastor of a church and an unequivocal supporter of farmworkers.
Raquel Venegas Lawson and Karl Lawson - Part 1 - Part 2
Raquel was a union supporter at a mushroom plant in Oxnard, California. Karl was on UFW staff.
Alan McCoy
A Franciscan priest who was pastor of a church in Sacramento in 1965. Worked closely with Chris Hartmire. Was head of Western Province of Franciscans and later led the Major Superiors of Men.
Charles McLain
Presbyterian clergyman and early supporter of Delano Grape Strike. Was arrested with church supporters and strikers six weeks into the Strike. Remained an ardent supporter to the end of his life in 2005.
Maria Saludado Magana
As a young farmworker in her twenties she joined the Strike in the first year and later went out on the boycott. She became a member of the UFW Service Center staff.
Howard and Rosemary Matson
Howard and Rosemary were leaders in peace and justice work in the Unitarian Universalist denomination and were early supporters of the farmworker cause.
John C. Moyer
Presbyterian clergyman who became a UFW supporter while in seminary and continued support as a campus pastor.
John R. Moyer
A United Church of Christ clergyman who served on the staff of the UCC Board of Homeland Ministries and represented them on the Board of the National Farm Worker Ministry. Was a key figure in generating national support for the UFW in his denomination.
Richard Norberg - Part 1 - Part 2
The Rev. Dr. Richard Norberg was appointed Conference Minister of the Northern California Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in 1960. The UCC was a new denomination formed in 1957 from the Congregational Church and the Evangelical Reform Church. The Conference included the three hundred mile long San Joaquin Valley where much of the strike activity took place. Dr. Norberg’s support for the National Farm Worker Ministry and for some of his own staff, tested the new denomination's resilience.
Walter Press
Rev. Walter Press, a UCC clergyman who was Associate Conference Minister for the Northern California Conference of the United Church of Christ and former chair of California Migrant Ministry Commission. He was Dr. Norberg’s Associate. He came out of the more conservative Evangelical Reform denomination, but was a staunch advocate for social justice.
Fred Ross
Founder of Community Service Organization and mentor to Cesar Chavez. A master organizer.
Marilyn Rudy, CSJ
A Sister of St. Joseph of Carondolet, a socially progressive order. Sr. Marilyn was among the strong farmworker supporters in the community.
Augie Vandenbosche - Part 1 - Part 2
Presbyterian clergyman who, as the Director of the Florida Migrant Ministry, brought it into full cooperation with the National Farm Worker Ministry. He moved the FMM from a service organization to advocacy for workers organizing, a natural transition for Augie to make as a long-time southern labor supporter.
Gertrude Welch
Was an active volunteer with the Council of Churches. Was one of Chris Hartmire’s key contacts in San Jose for years.
Winthrop Yinger
Rev. Win Yinger is a United Church of Christ clergyman. In the early 1960s he was the newly called pastor of the Congregational Church in Arvin, California in the southern end of the San JoaquinValley. After the Grape Strike began in 1965, Win tried to open dialogue about issues surrounding the strike. In this interview he tells the story of what happened and how it affected the rest of his life.