In October of 1939, cotton pickers across the San Joaquin Valley went on strike against local cotton growers . Citing low pay and poor working conditions, the workers (who were supported by the Workers Alliance, Congress of Industrial Workers and the UCAPAW) assembled in downtown Courthouse Park in Madera and arrests were made by the Madera County Sheriff in accordance with an anti-picketing ordinance of Madera County. This was followed by strikers threatening to storm the jail, growers and pickers violently confronting each other at various locations within the County and additional arrests of picketers. In total, 13 leaders of the various labor organizations were arrested and indicted on charges of conspiracy to violate an anti-picketing ordinance and conspiring to commit to breach of the peace. 100 UCAPAWA union members as well as labor sympathizers picketed the Madera County Jail in protest of the labor organizers arrest and confinement. These reels document the events of the 1939 Madera County Cotton Pickers Strike.
Item or Container Annotations
Notes on original containers: r01: Nov 21, 1939. At jail. Strike in park. r02: At the field. Note on film leader: r01: Nov 18th 1939 p.m.
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