Strike!: The Farm Workers' Fight for Their Rights

by Larry Dane Brimner

Overview

*Discover the important history of California’s migrant workers and their strike for fair wages during the Delano grape strike in the 1960’s

*Learn about Latino civil rights activist César Chávez and Filipino-American labor organizer Larry Itliong

*From Sibert award-winning author Larry Dane Brimner
 
Here is the gripping story of the Grape Strike that stirred a nation, as well as the rise of Latino civil rights activist César Chávez and the United Farm Workers of America.
 
In the 1960’s, while the United States was at war and racial tensions were boiling over, Filipino-American workers were demanding fair wages and decent living conditions in California’s vineyards.  When the workers walked off the fields in September 1965, the great Delano grape strike began.  Did the signing of labor contracts with growers in 1970 mean an end to the problems of the American field laborers, or was it a short-lived truce? This nonfiction book for young readers follows the five-year long strike and also provides details about César Chávez and the United Farm Workers.  Award-winning author Larry Dane Brimner’s riveting text, complemented by black-and-white archival photographs and the words of workers, organizers, and growers, tells the powerful history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635928334
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	09/06/2022
Pages:	172
Sales rank:	1,037,482
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1200L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 17 Years

About the Author

Larry Dane Brimner is the recipient of the 2018 Robert F. Sibert Award for the most distinguished informational book for children for his title Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961. He is known for his well-researched, innovative, and award-winning nonfiction for young readers, and is the author of multiple acclaimed civil rights titles, including Strike!: The Farm Workers' Fight for Their Rights; and Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene "Bull" Connor.

Editorial Reviews

★ "While a number of books celebrating Cesar Chavez are available for younger children, few titles provide more in-depth coverage for olders readers. This informative volume offers a detailed, nuanced discussion of the man and the California agricultural workers' movement . . . Well researched, well sourced, and clearly written, this book is an excellent resource for young people." — Booklist, starred review

★ "A skillful, compelling account of the complicated history of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers movement, set in the context of the social and political tensions of the times . . . With an appealing design and many black-and-white photographs, this paints a vivid, detailed picture of an important labor movement and its controversial yet inspiring leader." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Brimner's comprehensive history of the United Farm Workers (UFW) begins not with Cesar Chavez but with the action of a group of Filipino farm workers who walked off the California fields in 1965. He combines the little-known story of the Filipino workers, a significant segment of migrant farm workers, with that of Chavez and the Hispanic workers, whose actions have received far more attention . . . Brimner's inclusion of information about the Filipino workers who began the movement, quotes and balanced discussion of Chavez's strengths and weaknesses provides a fresh perspective on the movement, making this book a first-purchase choice for middle-level researchers." — School Library Journal, starred review

" . . . Brimner's compelling narrative, complete with both textual and visual primary sources, is up to the task. The layout is inviting with swatches of green and purple to complement the dominant black-and-white color scheme and well-placed maps and photos, while brief Spanish translations of selected quotes, titles, and epigraphs are incorporated . . . " — The Horn Book

From the Publisher

★ 06/01/2014
Gr 6–9—Brimner's comprehensive history of the United Farm Workers (UFW) begins not with Cesar Chavez but with the action of a group of Filipino farm workers who walked off the California fields in 1965. He combines the little-known story of the Filipino workers, a significant segment of migrant farm workers, with that of Chavez and the Hispanic workers, whose actions have received far more attention. Brimner is sympathetic to the plight of all the farm workers and emphasizes both their poverty and powerlessness and the dangers and bravery of their long struggle to win bargaining rights from their powerful employers. He is objective about Chavez, providing both praise and criticism of his role as union and civil rights leader. One of the book's strongest points is a discussion of how Hispanic organizers Chavez and Deloris Huerta and their Filipino counterpart Larry Itliong worked to overcome grower-exploited cultural differences between the two groups and persuade them to trust and work together. The text is supplemented with well-chosen primary source quotes, large period photos and political cartoons, and sidebars. Although many titles such as Barbara J. Davis's The National Grape Boycott: A Victory for Farmworkers (Compass Point, 2008) offer general background and well-written coverage of Chavez and Hispanic workers, Brimner's inclusion of information about the Filipino workers who began the movement, quotes and balanced discussion of Chavez's strengths and weaknesses provides a fresh perspective on the movement, making this book a first-purchase choice for middle-level researchers.—Mary Mueller, Rolla Public Schools, MO

School Library Journal

★ 2014-08-01
A skillful, compelling account of the complicated history of César Chávez and the farm workers movement, set in the context of the social and political tensions of the times. "We used to own our slaves. Now we just rent them," said a farmer in Harvest of Shame, a 1960 documentary about migrant workers. Union leader Chávez started picking produce as an adolescent and knew firsthand the brutal conditions farmworkers endured. Driven to change those conditions and raise wages, Chávez worked ceaselessly to organize California's migrant workers into a union, which became the United Farm Workers. It successfully pioneered the use of boycotts to support strikes and adopted techniques such as fasting and protest marches from Gandhi and the civil rights movement. But hard-won victories were followed by setbacks at the hands of powerful farm owners and their Teamster allies. The UFW also suffered from increasing tension between Chávez and Filipino-American union leaders, while others criticized Chávez's emphasis on Catholicism and his aversion to dissent. Brimner's evenhanded, well-researched narrative uses apt quotes to convey a sense of the people, their actions and their emotions. Appropriately enough, green and purple accent the pages. With an appealing design and many black-and-white photographs, this paints a vivid, detailed picture of an important labor movement and its controversial yet inspiring leader. (author's note, further reading, websites, places to visit, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews