March to Sacramento (first day)

March to Sacramento (first day)

Manuel Vásquez, Luis Valenzuela, Freddie Armenta, Jorge Zaragoza, Roberto Román, César Chávez, Jim Drake, and Beto Reyes walking on the pilgrimage to Sacramento. Delano, 1966. Photo by John Kouns.

On March 17, 1966, sixty-seven picketers, organizers, and supporters—including photographers John Kouns and Jon Lewis—started a farmworker march from Delano to Sacramento to bring public awareness of the grape strike and boycott, and to pressure Governor Pat Brown to urge growers to the bargaining table. Under the motto Pilgrimage, Penance, and Revolution, these 67 original marchers (los originales) would cross more than 50 towns and cities in California’s Central Valley while hundreds, and in some places, thousands, of people joined the march.

César Chávez speaking to Delano chief of police. Delano, 1966. Photo by John Kouns.

The headquarters of the National Farm Workers Association, at 102 Albany Street, was chosen as the starting point, where more than 200 people, including the original 67, started the pilgrimage north. At the intersection of Albany and Garces Highway, however, two dozen police officers blocked the road arguing that the marchers needed a permit. Reporters from the national press who were in Delano the previous day for the hearings by the U.S. Subcommittee on Migratory Labor, headed by Senator Robert Kennedy, registered the standoff.
Delano police officers blocking strikers on the first day of the pilgrimage to Sacramento, Delano, 1966
Delano police officers blocking strikers on the first day of the pilgrimage to Sacramento. Delano, 1966

Police Chief James Ailes led the group of officers that blocked the marchers from continuing along Highway 99. When confronted by the police, some marchers fell to their knees and prayed, allowing the newsmen present to capture photographs. According to picket captain Roberto Bustos, the marchers were held up for three hours before being allowed to proceed.

A phone call from Senator Kennedy to the Delano police chief finally ended the impasse, according to Roberto “El Capitán” Bustos, a farmworker and striker who led the marchers for almost their entire journey to Sacramento. After walking for 17 miles, around 70 marchers arrived at Ducor, where they listened to Luis Valdez reading the Plan of Delano before going to bed. (Go to Day 2)

Delano police officers blocking strikers on the first day of the pilgrimage to Sacramento. Delano, 1966. Photo by John Kouns.

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