UFW Louisiana Boycott: New Orleans Office Records

Collection

Identifier: LR002710

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The Collection consists mostly of correspondence from the Boycott Office to ministers, priests and New Orleans labor union leaders asking support for the boycott. There is also some correspondence with other boycott leaders and the national office in Delano, California.

One important correspondent is Henry L. Mitchell, the Agricultural Representative for the Amalgamated Meat Cutters in New Orleans. Mitchell, who helped organize the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in 1934 had aided the UFW operations in New Orleans.

Dates

1969

Creator

United Farm Workers (Organization)

Language of Materials

Material entirely in English.

Access

Collection is open for research.

Use

Refer to the Walter P. Reuther Library Rules for Use of Archival Materials.

History

The UFW grape and lettuce boycotts of the late 1960s and early 1970s were the outgrowth of The Delano Grape Strike, which occurred in September 1965 in California. In 1967 the idea of boycotting a product was fostered by Cesar Chavez, head of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), predecessor to the United Farm Workers Union. Chavez’s intent was to alert the nation that farm workers were looking for civil rights, as well as fairer wages and thus used the tactic of boycotting as a non-violent means of furthering his goal.

Extent

.5 Linear Feet (1 MB)

Additional Description

Abstract

The records of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee Boycott New Orleans Office (successor name United Farm Workers) highlight their efforts to gain support from area affiliates, such as religious groups and New Orleans labor union leaders, for the boycott.

Arrangement

Folders are arranged in original order.

Acquisition

The papers of the New Orleans UFWOC Boycott Office were deposited with the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in August 1969, by John Shroyer and Joy Rothschild, Co-Chairmen of the New Orleans Boycott Office.