La Casita Farms (1966)
Labor
Civil rights
Strikes and lockouts
In 1966 a bitter dispute between farmworkers and owners of La Casita Farms, El Texano Ranch, and Griffen & Brand farms took place in Starr County. Farmworkers harvesting melons demanded minimum wage and improved working conditions. Their strike culminated in “La Marcha,” or the march of farmworkers and organizers from Rio Grande City to the state capital in Austin, Texas.
1966
Rio Grande City, Texas
Roma, Texas
Starr County, Texas
Austin, Texas
Development of the Magic Valley: Work & Labor
Sharyland, irrigation, railroad, laborers, canals, clearing land, hand labor, workers
Peonage Lesson Plan
Peonage
Forced labor
Race relations
Indentured servants
Social conditions
Forced labor--slavery
Peonage, also known as debt slavery, was used an option for farmers to control labor. The Raymondville peonage cases, which were the first of their kind in Texas history, were tried in the Nueces County federal court in January 1927. Although the practice was illegal, peonage labor was used during the early twentieth century in some counties of South Texas, where it had become common to force laborers, usually Mexican or African Americans but also whites, to work off debts owed to farmers. During times of labor shortage the practice included charging individuals with vagrancy in order to force them into labor; "friendly farmers" paid off their fines and then had the prisoners work off the debt by picking cotton, often under armed guard.
Handbook of Texas Online, Alicia A. Garza, "RAYMONDVILLE PEONAGE CASES," accessed July 29, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqreq.
Grade 4
Ana Cerda
Lezly Gonzalez
Melissa Cantu
UTRGV College of Education
EDCI3335.32
Spring 2019
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and University Archives
1865
1927
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
UTRGV College of Education
Stephanie Anckle
Cerda, Ana, Gonzalez, Lezly, and Cantu, Melissa. (2019). Lesson Plan for Peonage Lesson Plan. Retrieved from. https://rgvprimarysourceguides.omeka.net/files/show/96
PDF
English
LessonPlan-Peonage-CerdaGonzalezCantu
Raymondville, Texas
Melon Strike Begins
Strikes
Rio Grande Valley
Starr County, Texas
Chicano movement
Melon Strike
Agriculture
Texas Farm Workers Union
Mexican Americans
A newspaper clipping from <em>El Cuhamil</em>, announcing the beginning of a melon strike. The Texas Farm Worker's Union started the strike in a rally May 16, 1976.
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and University Archives
El Cuhamil (San Juan, TX)
1976-05-20
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
"Melon Strike Begins." <em>El Cuhamil</em>, May 20, 1975.
<a href="https://utrgv.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991007787899704696&context=L&vid=01UT_RGV_INST:UTRGV&search_scope=Search_All&tab=Search_All&lang=en">El Cuhamil Record</a>
JPEG
English
Text
COE-MELONSTRIKES-MelonStrikeBegins
Starr County, Texas
Rio Grande City, Texas