Manuel Rivera

Manuel Rivera

Manuel Rivera speaking to a crowd at Filipino Hall, Delano, ca.1966. Photo by Emmon Clarke.

Manuel Rivera was run over by a truck, injuring his pelvis and breaking legs, an incident which took place on October 15, 1966 around 10AM, near Garces Highway and Glenwood Street, close to the packing shed. Strikers that day were obstructed the way to trucks, preventing them from either going to or coming out of the packing sheds where grapes, collected by strikebreakers, were about to be distributed to grocery chains across the nation. The immediate goal of the strikers was to pressure the company to organize elections, giving workers the options to be represented by the UFWOC.

Manuel Rivera getting run over by a truck, Delano, October 15, 1966. Photo by Emmon Clarke.

Rivera, 52-year-old at the time, was a farmworker that arrived in Delano in 1961 with his wife and children to work as a farmworker. He was one of the first rose workers in MacFarland to support “la causa.” The driver of the Chevrolet flatbed truck that ran over Rivera, Lowell Jordan Shy, was a shipper employed by Irving Goldberg and Sons Company.

A police officer holds a baton while standing in front of the truck that had just run over farmworker and striker Manuel Rivera. The officer stands close to the vehicle's door, protecting the driver who is still sitting inside the vehicle. On the other side the vehicle, its door open and a striker is talking to the driver. The picketers were reacting passionately to the violence caused by the drive, who inflicted serious injuries on Rivera.</p> <p>Un oficial de policía sostiene una macana mientras está parado en frente del camión que atropelló al campesino y huelguista Manuel Rivera. El oficial está parado cerca de la puerta del mismo, protegiendo al conductor quien aún sigue sentado dentro del vehículo. Sobre el otro lado del camión está la puerta abierta y un huelguista platica con el conductor. Los piqueteros reaccionaron apasionadamente a la violencia desatada por el conductor, quien le causó serias heridas a Rivera.

Police officer standing near the truck that ran over Manuel Rivera, Delano, October 15, 1966

A police officer holds a baton while standing in front of the truck that had just run over farmworker and striker Manuel Rivera. The officer stands close to the vehicle’s door, protecting the driver who is still sitting inside the vehicle. On the other side the vehicle, its door open and a striker is talking to the driver. The picketers were reacting passionately to the violence caused by the drive, who inflicted serious injuries on Rivera.

According to Jerry Cohen, an attorney for the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee in charge of protecting the First Amendment right to picket and to conduct peaceful boycotts, this incident is an example of how growers were using physical violence to intimidate strikers at picket lines.

Manuel Rivera, his wife, and seven children pose for a portrait, Delano, ca. 1966. Photo by Emmon Clarke.

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