Ernesto Galarza facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ernesto Galarza
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| Born | August 15, 1905 Jalcocotan, Nayarit, Mexico
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| Died | June 22, 1984 |
| Education | Occidental College (BA) Stanford University (MA) Columbia University (PhD) |
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| Awards | Order of the Condor of the Andes |
Ernesto Galarza was an important Mexican-American leader who worked hard to improve life for farmworkers in California. Born in 1905, he was a labor organizer, activist, professor, writer, and storyteller. He dreamed of better living conditions for working-class Latino families.
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Ernesto Galarza's Early Life
Ernesto Galarza was born in Jalcocotan, a town in Nayarit, Mexico. He moved to California with his mother and two uncles. In his autobiography, Barrio Boy, he wrote about learning to fit into a new culture and school system. He earned a scholarship to Occidental College in Los Angeles. Later, he received a master's degree in history from Stanford University in 1929.
Galarza's Career and Activism
From 1936 to 1947, Galarza worked for the Pan-American Union. This group is now called the Organization of American States. He wrote about education, labor, and building projects in Latin America. In 1947, he earned his PhD from Columbia University. His studies focused on the electricity industry in Mexico.
Organizing Farmworkers
Ernesto Galarza became a key leader in the farm labor movement in California. Starting in 1948, he began organizing farmworkers. He worked as a research and education director for the National Farm Labor Union. This union was part of the American Federation of Labor.
He led a long strike against the DiGiorgio Corporation in Arvin, California. This strike lasted for 30 months. Over the next 15 years, the company and union were involved in many lawsuits. Between 1948 and 1959, Galarza and the union led about twenty strikes.
Fighting for Workers' Rights
Galarza was a scholar and writer, but he also took action. He led several strikes for the AFL. However, a program called the Bracero Program made his efforts difficult. This program brought Mexican workers to the U.S. temporarily. It often made it harder for unions to gain power.
Because of this, Galarza changed his approach. He used his writing to fight for change instead of direct strikes. He hoped his words could help end the Bracero Program.
Important Books and Legacy
Galarza wrote many books. His most famous work is Merchants of Labor (1964). This book showed the problems and unfairness within the Bracero Program. The book was very important in ending the program. This helped clear the way for Cesar Chavez to start organizing farmworkers in 1965.
In 1956, Galarza received the Bolivian Order of the Condor of the Andes. This is a high honor. Today, the Ernesto Galarza Applied Research Center at the University of California Riverside is named after him. Many schools in California also bear his name.
His important books include:
- Barrio Boy, 1971
- Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Story, 1964
- Spiders in the House and Workers in the Field, 1970
Investigating the Salinas Valley Tragedy
In September 1963, a terrible bus crash happened in the Salinas Valley. It killed 32 bracero workers. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a chairman in the U.S. House of Representatives, asked Galarza to investigate.
Galarza's report came out in April 1964. He found that the accident was caused by carelessness. Flatbed trucks were illegally changed into buses. The drivers were not well trained. Safety officials and businesses did not care enough about the workers' lives. Galarza wrote that the accident was bound to happen. He later wrote a book about it called Tragedy at Chualar (1977).
