6 minute read
Did you know....
...that in 1977, members of the Texas Farm Workers Union, led by Antonio Orendain, marched from San Juan to Austin, Texas, and then from Austin to Washington, DC?
|By Rosann Bacha-Garza, UTRGV Chaps Program | All images provided to the author by Antonio Orendain in 2009 during interviews and historical research meetings.
Following Spanish colonization of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas (RGV) in the mid-1700s and early 1800s, settlers depended on farming for survival along the Rio Grande. After US Army Lt. W.H. Chatfield surveyed the region and proposed a gravity irrigation system using water from the river in the 1890s, commercial agriculture emerged in the region. When the railroad was built through the Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1904, towns along the tracks were founded, such as La Feria, McAllen, and San Juan, and soon experienced population growth. Local promoters, known as ‘boosters,’ highlighted each town’s unique regional qualities, focusing on thriving year-round farming. Agricultural business expansion caused a corresponding rise in large-scale labor hiring.
Migrant farmworkers, particularly of Mexican and Mexican American descent, have been a significant part of the agricultural workforce in the RGV for well over a century. With Labor Day nearing, we should consider a time when farmworkers organized and fought for basic human rights. One such leader and defender of farmworkers in the RGV was Antonio Orendain.
Antonio Orendain made his way from Jalisco, Mexico, to San Ysidro, California, in 1950 without any documentation. In 1951, he crossed paths with César Chávez, and by 1952, he became a member of the Community Service Organization (CSO). Chávez later sent Orendain to Texas in 1966 to support the notable Starr County melon strike. There, he took the initiative to form the United Farm Workers union (UFW) in South Texas. In 1975, Orendain and his supporters decided to part ways with the UFW, leading to the establishment of the Texas Farm Workers Union (TFWU). He passionately fought for the civil rights of migrant farmworkers in Texas, leading local efforts for over a decade. After years of relentless struggle, Orendain believed it was crucial to highlight the dangerous working conditions faced by farmworkers, so he organized a march aimed at engaging with elected officials to present their grievances.
The Texas Farm Workers’ march began at the Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle (today a national shrine and basilica) on Feb-
Migrant farmworkers, particularly of Mexican and Mexican American descent, have been a significant part of the agricultural workforce in the RGV for well over a century. With Labor Day nearing, we should consider a time when farmworkers organized and fought for basic human rights. One such leader and defender of farmworkers in the RGV was Antonio Orendain.
Antonio Orendain made his way from Jalisco, Mexico, to San Ysidro, California, in 1950 without any documentation. In 1951, he crossed paths with César Chávez, and by 1952, he became a member of the Community Service Organization (CSO). Chávez later sent Orendain to Texas in 1966 to support the notable Starr County melon strike. There, he took the initiative to form the United Farm Workers union (UFW) in South Texas. In 1975, Orendain and his supporters decided to part ways with the UFW, leading to the establishment of the Texas Farm Workers Union (TFWU). He passionately fought for the civil rights of migrant farmworkers in Texas, leading local efforts for over a decade. After years of relentless struggle, Orendain believed it was crucial to highlight the dangerous working conditions faced by farmworkers, so he organized a march aimed at engaging with elected officials to present their grievances.
The Texas Farm Workers’ march began at the Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle (today a national shrine and basilica) on February 26, 1977. It concluded on the steps of the state capitol in Austin on April 3, 1977. Marchers met with Governor Dolph Briscoe to discuss their fight to repeal Section 14B of the Taft-Hartley Act.
Claudio Ramirez, a committed member of the Texas Farm Workers Union, made a banner reflecting his dedication to the Virgen de San Juan de los Lagos, promising to take it to Washington. The group walked fifteen miles each day in Texas, going from San Juan to Austin. To get to our nation’s capital in time for Labor Day that year, they increased their daily mileage on the march from Austin to twenty miles per day.
The map of the Texas Farm Workers’ route from Austin to Washington, DC depicts the long road and struggle for farmworkers’ rights. This leg of the march began on June 18, 1977, and ended when they arrived at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Labor Day that same year. President Carter would not grant them an audience upon their arrival, so instead, they met with Vice President Walter Mondale to discuss collective bargaining rights, human rights, and better overall treatment of all farm workers.
On May 26, 2009, the Texas State Senate passed Resolution No. 1026 (Lucio), honoring Antonio Orendain as the leader of the Texas Farm Workers Union and for his overall leadership and organization of the human rights march in February 1977. Shortly after the resolution passed, Proclamation No. 232 was passed to honor and name all TFWU participants on their march to Washington, DC.
Texas Representative Vicente Gonzalez asked the US House of Representatives in 2017 to commemorate Antonio Orendain’s life in the Congressional Record of the Proceedings and Debates of the 115th US Congress. Orendain and the members of the Texas Farmworkers Union are remembered as champions of civil rights who fought for higher wages, improved working conditions and labor rights.
Texas Farm Workers Union’s 1977 map of their march from San Juan to Austin. The group then marched from Austin to Washington, DC.
