4.1.1 - Philip Vera Cruz: Justice for Farm Workers
Photo Credit: Gil Ortiz
Grade: 9-11Subject: Ethnic Studies, U.S. History, English Language Arts
Number of Lessons: 3
Overview:
This unit exposes students to the general history of the Filipino presence in the United States and the specific role of Filipinos in the organization of the California farm workers' movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Students go beyond textbook and popular media accounts of the farm worker movement to appreciate the importance of Filipino leaders like Philip Vera Cruz, who promoted ethnic unity in the labor movement and larger struggles for social justice. The lesson will culminate with students writing their own textbook revisions that detail the Filipino role in California’s farm worker movement, including the formation of the United Farm Workers (UFW) and the successful grape boycott of the 1960s.
Lesson 1: This lesson focuses on the nature of agricultural work in California and the multiracial/multiethnic groups making up the rural workforce. Students analyze primary sources in the form of poetry written by different groups to understand common struggles shared by California farm workers and generate ideas about what things would divide workers. Students then write their own poetry or a letter about the conditions faced by workers.
Lesson 2: This lesson focuses specifically on the history of Filipinos in California and how they became involved in agriculture. Students read a biography about Philip Vera Cruz and create a graphic historical timeline that connects events from his life to a broader historical and generational context.
Lesson 3: Students “open up” a textbook account of the founding of the UFW by analyzing a number of documents that reveal the pivotal role of Filipino workers in the farm workers’ movement of the 1960s and 1970s. They then “revise” a textbook account to be more inclusive of Filipino contributions.
 
Learning Objectives:
Students will:
 
Materials:
  1. “Academic Vocabulary Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout
  2. “Academic Vocabulary Philip Vera Cruz UFW” teacher version
  3. “America Is in the Heart” excerpt
  4. “An Immigrant’s Haiku Records Great Dreams” handout
  5. “Corrido Pensilvanio” poem handout
  6. “Filipino American Farm Worker History Timeline” handout
  7. “How Filipino American Workers Reached America” handout
  8. “Lesson 1 Class Work Homework Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout
  9. “Lesson 2 Class Work Homework Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout
  10. “Lesson 3 Philip Vera Cruz UFW Textbook Revision” handout
  11. “Profits Enslave the World” poem handout
  12. “Songs of Gold Mountain” handout
  13. “Speech by Andy Imutan” handout
  14. “UFW Movement Philip Vera Cruz Excerpt” handout
  15. “Unified Coalition UFW” handout
  16. “Unit Slide Philip Vera Cruz, Justice for Farm Workers”
 
Recommended Supplemental Texts:
  1. Brimner, Larry Dane, Strike! The Farmworkers’ Fight for Their Rights, Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Calkins Creek, 2014.
  2. Bulosan, Carlos, America Is in the Heart, New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1946. Available as an e-book at http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015000566789;view=1up;seq=72
  3. McWilliams, Carey, Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
  4. Scharlin, Craig and Villanueva, Lilia V., Philip Vera Cruz: A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farmworkers Movement, Third Edition, Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2000.
  5. Takaki, Ronald T., A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1993. Print.
  6. Takaki, Ronald T., Strangers from a Different Shore. Boston: Little, Brown and Company; Revised and Updated edition (September 23, 1998).
 
Other Web Resources:
  1. Carlos Bulosan poetry and biography
  2. Filipino American Labor Archives
  3. Hill, Margaret, “Pioneer Sikh Migration to North America”
  4. “Immigrant Voices: From Punjab, India to Angel Island”, Run time: 7:28
  5. Other Bulosan poems
  6. Angel Island's Ghosts Linger
  7. United Farm Workers Website
 
Videos:
  1. “Fil-Ams cry foul over lack of Pinoy labor leaders in Cesar Chavez film,” TFC Balitang America, Run time: 3 minutes 36 seconds
  2. “Filipino Americans: Discovering the Past for the Future, Part 2 of 4,” Run time: 14 minutes 16 seconds
  3. “Filipino Manongs Ignite the 1965 Grape Strike,” Kababayan Today LA, Run time: 5 minutes 30 seconds
  4. “Little Manila: Filipinos in California’s Heartland”, KVIE video, 2013, Run time: 26 minutes 46 seconds
 
Discussion Questions:
 
LESSON 1: California Agriculture and the Rise of a Rural Working Class (Suggested Time: 70 minutes)
Materials:
  1. “America Is in the Heart” excerpt
  2. “An Immigrant’s Haiku Records Great Dreams” handout
  3. “Corrido Pensilvanio” poem
  4. “Immigrant Voices: From Punjab, India to Angel Island” video. Run time: 7:28
  5. “Lesson 1 Class Work Homework Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout
  6. “Profits Enslave the World” poem handout
  7. “Songs of Gold Mountain” handout
  8. “Unit Slide Philip Vera Cruz, Justice for Farm Workers”
 
Activity 1: Quick-write/journal prompt (20 minutes)
  1. Pass out “Lesson 1 Class Work Homework Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout. Remind students to keep all handouts for homework assignment.
  2. In order to connect to students’ prior knowledge and introduce some of the themes of the unit, have students complete a journal or “Quick-Write” for the following question (refer to Unit slides for the writing prompt):
    How might working in a factory compare with working on a farm?
  3. Students will write silently for 10 minutes.
    Options: Have students write a short paragraph, create a Venn Diagram or side-by-side drawings that contrast the two.
  4. Debrief: Debrief with students. Stress the apparent differences between the two. Then point out that farm work in California agriculture is similar in many ways to work in a factory. Just like workers in factories began to form unions to protect their rights, so too did California agricultural workers struggle to form unions.
 
Activity 2: Lecture/Note taking -- Brief History of Agriculture/Workers in California Note taking (30 minutes)
  1. To introduce the history of the agricultural workers in California, show Lesson 1 of the “Unit Slide Philip Vera Cruz Justice for Farm Workers”.
  2. Have students take notes in the Lesson 1 handout while watching the slides.
Teacher Notes on Slides:
Slide 5: Features of California Agriculture
Modern California agriculture (during the period of statehood) started out producing wheat for local and foreign markets. Because of the conditions (small labor supply and scarce water) wheat production was highly mechanized. Only very large farms could support this mode of production because the capital required to invest in machinery was very expensive.
Slide 6: Geography and Climate
California is uniquely situated to fill a niche market; it is able to produce many “summer crops” during the mild winters. Multiple crops per year are also possible.
Slide 7: 1890s-1940s
Due to soil depletion and a variety of other factors, wheat production went into steep decline by the late 19th century. Smaller farms producing a variety of exotic crops emerged. The nature of the crops stimulated the growth of canning and packaging industries, which hired large numbers of women workers in particular, who worked in packing plants and canneries that operated much like factories. During this period in the 1930s, the Dust Bowl, which brought about severe dust storms that damaged agriculture through much of the Midwest, brought about a large migration of workers to California.
Slide 8: Farm Workers
California agriculture continued to rely primarily on a migratory workforce that followed the harvest schedule. Large landowners dominated farming in the Central and Imperial Valleys. These landowners acquired labor through a system in which bosses would find and deliver workers of their own ethnicity or race to the places they were needed. This system of intermediaries and the temporary nature of farm jobs mimicked the relations of capital and labor in industrial firms because personalist or paternalistic relations between the owner and employees was essentially eliminated. Additionally, the tasks themselves were extremely repetitive, low-skill, and monotonous.
Slide 9: Multiracial/Multiethnic Workforce
From the very beginning, California farm labor has been multiracial and multiethnic. The race and/or ethnicity of the workforce has changed over time, largely due to historical circumstances. Chinese workers were very common until the late 1800s, when the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act reduced their numbers. Japanese, Mexican, Sikh, and Southern/Eastern European immigrants filled the void until WWI. By that time, Japanese immigration had been curtailed by the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, Sikh and European immigration declined due to the war and, later, restrictive quotas. After the SpanishAmerican War, Filipinos were increasingly recruited to work in the mines and fields of the Western part of the United States. Mexican workers were a significant presence in the West from the early 20th century when Mexico was in the midst of a revolutionary civil war. Although hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Mexican Americans were deported during the Depression years, by the 1940s and 1950s, thousands of Mexican workers were coming to the United States through a temporary federal worker program known as the Bracero Program. By the middle of the 20th century, most farm workers were Mexican or of Mexican descent.
Slide 10: Effects of Racial and Ethnic Differences
Growers and labor bosses intentionally maintained racial and ethnic differences among workers. Separation impeded unionization efforts by limiting contact between workers, maintaining linguistic differences, and fostering conflict and competition. Ethnically or racially-based labor gangs were also viewed as being more productive because they often united friends or family members or, at the very least, compatriots in a frequently hostile work environment. Therefore, while gang labor could benefit workers individually by making work more bearable, it made large-scale unionization very difficult, especially given grower hostility toward unionization and their influence over law enforcement and state government. Additionally, when racial or ethnic groups did try to strike, bosses would hire other ethnic groups as strikebreakers. Two major exceptions to the tendency for ethnic/racial groups to compete were the Mexican-Filipino Lettuce Strike of 1930 and the Japanese-Mexican labor strike against growers in Washington state in 1943. In the first case, hundreds of Mexican and Filipino farm workers spontaneously walked off the job in response to declining wages and working conditions. They were eventually joined by 5,000 other farm workers and started a wave of labor militancy that was viciously put down by growers. The 1943 Japanese-Mexican labor strike took place in response to a police order restricting the movement of male workers of Japanese and Mexican descent to certain areas of Dayton, Washington. Hundreds of Mexican workers (primarily braceros) and Japanese workers (on temporary leave from internment camps) struck until the city agreed to lift the restrictions.
 
Activity 3: Working Class Experience Discussion (25 minutes)
To have students understand the reality of working in America that many immigrant workers faced, in comparison to the idealized dreams they had for immigrating to America, have students read and analyze poetry from Chinese, Japanese, Sikh, Mexican, and Filipino workers.
Ask students:
 
Activity 4: Homework
Ask students to complete page 2 of the Lesson 1 Class Work Homework handout.
  • Write a poem or series of haikus depicting life for workers in California in the early 1900s.
    OR
  • Imagine that you are a farm worker in California writing a letter home to your family. How would you describe life in California for your family? Be sure to include sensory details and historical facts about the nature of California farming.
  •  

    LESSON 2: California Agriculture and the Rise of a Rural Working Class (Suggested Time: 70 minutes)
    Materials:
    1. “Academic Vocabulary Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout
    2. “Filipino American Farm Worker History Timeline” handout
    3. “How Filipino American Workers Reached America” handout
    4. “Lesson 2 Class Work Homework Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout
    5. Little Manila: Filipinos in California’s Heartland, KVIE video, 2013. Run time 26 min 46 sec
    6. “UFW Movement Philip Vera Cruz Excerpt” handout
    7. “Unit Slide Philip Vera Cruz, Justice for Farm Workers”
     
    Activity 1: Quick-write/journal prompt (10 minutes)
    1. Pass out “Lesson 2 Class Work Homework” handout. Remind students to keep the handout for a homework assignment.
    2. In order to connect to students’ prior knowledge and introduce some ideas for this lesson, have students complete a journal or “Quick-Write” for the following question (refer to Unit slides for the writing prompt):
      • In what ways can one person’s life story represent the history of a people? Think of your own life, or your parent’s life.
      • How does your life story represent the history of a people?
    3. Students will write silently for 10 minutes then have them share their ideas/writing with a partner. Make sure that students take turns sharing and listening.
     
    Activity 2: Video Note taking Activity (30 minutes)
    1. To have students learn about Filipinos in California’s farming regions, show students the video Little Manila: Filipinos in California’s Heartland. Show students the first 17 minutes.
    2. Have students take notes on page 2 of the “Lesson 2 Class Work Homework” handout while watching. Use questions on the slides to guide student note taking or as a check for comprehension afterward.
      • When and why did Filipinos begin to come to the United States?
      • What kinds of work did Filipinos find?
      • What were the conditions in which they worked?
      • How were Filipinos received?
      • How did Filipinos impact Stockton?
      • How did gender imbalances impact the Filipino community?
     
    Activity 3: Reading, Academic Vocabulary (30 minutes)
    1. To have students learn about Philip Vera Cruz and his early life, pass out “UFW Movement Philip Vera Cruz Excerpt” handout and “Academic Vocabulary Philip Vera Cruz UFW” handout.
    2. Introduce unit vocabulary to students:
      Instruct students as they are reading “UFW Movement Philip Vera Cruz Excerpt,” use context clues to determine the meaning of the words in the Academic Vocabulary. Then write their own original sentence about the farm workers movement using the terms.
    3. Have students read the excerpts silently (until end of Paragraph 20) and take notes on the sides.
    4. After reading,
      • Have students take out their “Lesson 2 Class Work Homework” handout.
      • Have students answer the following questions on their handout:
        • Who was Philip Vera Cruz and why does the article’s author admire him?
        • Identify 4 key events in Philip Vera Cruz’s early life.
    5. Pass out “Filipino American Farm Worker History Timeline” handout and “How Filipino American Workers Reached America” handout.
    6. To have students connect Philip Vera Cruz’s life to the greater Filipino American experience, have students read “How Filipino American Workers Reached America”. This reading will be important for the next activity.
     
    Activity 4: Homework - Creating a Graphic History of Philip Vera Cruz’s life and the Filipino American Experience
    For this activity, students will depict the history of Philip’s life by alternating his personal experiences with larger historical events affecting Filipinos in the United States.
    • The goal is to show how the struggles and accomplishments of Philip Vera Cruz can represent the larger Filipino presence in California.
    • Students should complete the homework in “Lesson 2 Class Work Homework” handout. Encourage creativity! Remind students to reference the unique features of California agriculture.
     
    LESSON 3: “Open up” a textbook account of the founding of the UFW – The Rise of the United Farm Workers (UFW) (Suggested Time: 80 minutes)
    Materials:
    1. “Lesson 3 Philip Vera Cruz UFW Textbook Revision” handout
    2. Little Manila: Filipinos in California’s Heartland, KVIE video, 2013. Film. Run time: 26:46
    3. “Speech by Andy Imutan” handout
    4. “UFW Movement Philip Vera Cruz Excerpt”
    5. “Unified Coalition UFW” handout
    6. “Unit Slide Philip Vera Cruz Justice for Farm Workers”
     
    Activity 1: Quick-write/journal prompt (in student notes or journals) (10 minutes)
    1. Pass out “Lesson 3 Philip Vera Cruz UFW Textbook Revision” handout.
    2. In order to connect to students’ prior knowledge and introduce some ideas for this lesson, have students complete a journal or “Quick-Write” for the following question (refer to Unit slides for the writing prompt):
      What are some advantages and disadvantages of learning history from textbooks?
    3. Have students write silently for about 10 minutes. Then as a class, create a T-chart to compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of learning history from the textbook.
      Advantages Disadvantages
      1.   1.  
    4. Lesson Introduction: By introducing Lesson 3 to students, tell students:
      “Textbooks do not present history in its totality. Oftentimes, textbooks exclude important narratives, including narratives that are important for ethnic minorities. In order to have a more complete understanding of the past, today you will look at a variety of primary and secondary sources.”
     
    Activity 2: Cartoon Analysis (10 minutes)
    1. Show Unit Slide Lesson 3 from “Unit Slide Philip Vera Cruz Justice for Farm Workers.”
    2. To engage students on a different perspective on the founding of the UFW, show students slide #22, the cartoon image.
    3. Ask students the following questions:
      • What seems to be the message of this cartoon?
      • Whose point of view might it represent?
      • Why might someone have this point of view?
     
    Activity 3: Opening up the Textbooks (60 minutes)
    Note: Written documents can be accessed on line and copies made for student use (working in pairs). Alternatively, students could access documents electronically.
    1. Textbook Revision
      Pass out “Lesson 3 Philip Vera Cruz UFW Textbook Revision” Handout.
      1. Round 1: Textbook Account
        • After reminding students of the essential question for the day, have students read the textbook passage on the Slides and discuss the accompanying questions. Tell students that they will be looking at a number of different sources in order to go beyond the textbook. They will be writing revisions for the textbook that include the role of Filipino Americans in the California farm worker movement generally and the formation of the UFW specifically. Students should record their answers in the “Lesson 3 Textbook Revision” handout.
        • Handout questions ask:
          • According to the textbook passage, what role did Filipinos play in the formation of the UFW?
          • How reliable do you think this source is? Why?
      2. Round 2: Little Manila video (17:17 to the end)
        • Repeat process with the video. Students continue recording responses on the handout.
      3. Round 3: “UFW Philip Vera Cruz Excerpt” reading
        • Repeat process with 1960s: Delano Grape Strike section (beginning of paragraph 21) in “UFW Movement Philip Vera Cruz Excerpt” handout. Students continue recording responses on the handout.
      4. Round 4: “Speech by Andy Imutan”
        • Repeat process with Imutan’s speech. Students continue recording responses on the handout.
      5. Round 5: “Unified Coalition UFW”
        • Repeat process with the short history from the Filipino Labor Archive. Students continue recording responses on the handout.
      6. Textbook Revision
        • Inform students that they should write at least one, well-developed paragraph in which they describe the role of Filipino farmworkers in California agriculture and the early years of the UFW.
        • Follow-Up: Have students share their “revisions” and have a class discussion about how their research and revisions present a different view of the history of the UFW. You may also choose to have students write a short reflection on what they think about textbooks and how they present history in light of the activity.
    2. Extension -- Revising the Textbook Poster Presentations
      • Have small groups of students create posters in which they create a special supplement to the textbook in which they describe the role of Filipino farm workers in California agriculture and the early years of the UFW. The section should have an interesting title, an image, and “Check for Understanding” Questions.
      • Students will then present their posters in front of the class or in a gallery walk.
    3. Alternative Writing Task
      • Have students respond to the following prompt in a 5-paragraph essay.
      • What role did Filipinos play in the early years of the UFW?
    4. Beyond the Classroom
      • Encourage students to research historic Filipinotown, which is located just northwest of central Los Angeles. Students can visit historic locations, eat at Filipino restaurants, and attend Filipino American events.
      • A mural honoring the struggles of Filipino farm workers, including Larry Itliong, Pete Velasco, Philip Vera Cruz, Andy Imutan, Ben Gines, Pete Manuel can be found there.
      • For information, visit: http://www.historicfilipinotown.org/
      • A map of Filipinotown is available at: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zdUmT4AOOkn4.k_LvqE9RzHrU&hl=en_US.
     
    Works Cited:
    Primary Reading:
    Wong, Kent, “United Farm Worker’s Movement: Philip Vera Cruz, Unsung Hero,” which includes Philip Vera Cruz’s poem “Profits Enslave the World” Source
    Handout Sources:
    Bulosan, Carlos, America Is in the Heart, New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1946. Available as an ebook at http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015000566789;view=1up;seq=72 Carlos Bulosan was a prolific Filipino American writer with radical politics. His poetry and story are well documented in Takaki’s book Strangers from a Different Shore. Teachers might also choose to include a chapter from his book America Is in the Heart, which is available as an e-book (see suggested supplemental texts).
    Hom, Marlon K., Songs of Gold Mountain: Immigrant Blues, University of California Press, 1992, Available as an ebook at https://play.google.com/store/books/details?pcampaignid=books_read_action&id=VpKMqQRPDsIC
    Vera Cruz, Philip, “Profits Enslave the World” (Asian American Education Project handout)
    “Speech by Andy Imutan” Source
    “Unified Coalition UFW” handout Source
    Videos Available On-Line:
    Recommended Supplemental Texts:
    Brimner, Larry Dane, Strike! The Farmworkers’ Fight for Their Rights, Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Calkins Creek, 2014.
    Bulosan, Carlos, America is in the Heart, New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1946. Available as an ebook at http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015000566789;view=1up;seq=72
    McWilliams, Carey, Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
    Scharlin, Craig and Villanueva, Lilia V., Philip Vera Cruz: A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farmworkers Movement, Third Edition, Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2000.
    Takaki, Ronald T., A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1993. Print.
    Takaki, Ronald T., Strangers from a Different Shore. Boston: Little, Brown and Company; Revised and Updated edition (September 23, 1998).
    Other Web Resources
    Mejia-Giudici, Cynthia. "Bulosan, Carlos (1911?-1956), Writer” HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, 14 Feb. 2003.