Curious Unions: Mexican American Workers and Resistance in Oxnard, California, 1898-1961

César E. Chávez returned to Oxnard, California in 1958 to organize the Community Service Organization to support the unionization campaign of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. This time Chávez returned as the organizer of the Community Service Organization to support the unionization campaign of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. Curious Unions explores how the Mexican community forged intriguing partnerships with other ethnic groups in the first half of the twentieth century, leading to economic exchanges, cultural practices, and labor and community activism. Frank P. Barajas examines how the Oxnard ethnic Mexican population exercised its agency in alliance with other groups and organizations to meet their needs before large-scale protests and labor unions were engaged.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 374 pages
Publication date: 01 December 2021
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

César E. Chávez arrived in Oxnard, California, in 1958, twenty years after he had lived briefly in the city as a child with his migrant farmworker family during the Great Depression. This time, Chávez returned as the organizer of the Community Service Organization to support the unionization campaign of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. Together, the two groups challenged the agricultural industry's use of braceros (imported contract laborers) that displaced resident farmworkers.

The Mexican and Mexican American populations in Oxnard were involved in cultural struggles and negotiations long before Chávez led them in marches and active protests. Curious Unions explores the ways in which the Mexican community forged intriguing partnerships with other ethnic groups within Oxnard in the first half of the twentieth century and the resulting economic exchanges, cultural practices, and labor and community activism. Frank P. Barajas examines how the Oxnard ethnic Mexican population exercised its agency in alliance with other groups and organizations to meet their needs before large-scale protests and labor unions were engaged. Curious Unions charts how the cultural negotiations that took place in the Oxnard ethnic Mexican community helped shape and empower farm labor organizing.

César E. Chávez arrived in Oxnard, California, in 1958, twenty years after he had lived briefly in the city as a child with his migrant farmworker family during the Great Depression. This time, Chávez returned as the organizer of the Community Service Organization to support the unionization campaign of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. Together, the two groups challenged the agricultural industry's use of braceros (imported contract laborers) that displaced resident farmworkers.

The Mexican and Mexican American populations in Oxnard were involved in cultural struggles and negotiations long before Chávez led them in marches and active protests. Curious Unions explores the ways in which the Mexican community forged intriguing partnerships with other ethnic groups within Oxnard in the first half of the twentieth century and the resulting economic exchanges, cultural practices, and labor and community activism. Frank P. Barajas examines how the Oxnard ethnic Mexican population exercised its agency in alliance with other groups and organizations to meet their needs before large-scale protests and labor unions were engaged. Curious Unions charts how the cultural negotiations that took place in the Oxnard ethnic Mexican community helped shape and empower farm labor organizing.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781496229038