1966 Farm Workers Rally and March
Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On June 1, 1966,700 Starr County Melon Farm workers went on strike in protest of wages beneath the national minimum wage and harsh working conditions. Eugene Nelson of the National Farm Workers Association came to south Texas, organized the affiliated Independent Workers Association, and led the strike against La Castia Farms and other area growers. Two local men who called for reform years prior, Margil Sanchez and Lucio Galvan, joined Nelson in his efforts. Received no satisfaction from the growers and amid violence from local authorities, farm workers began a 380-mile march to the state capitol in Austin to urge officials there to create a statewide minimum wage. The group began on July 5, 1966, in Rio Grande City, stopping to rest at homes along the way and gaining support from each community encountered. The marchers received supplies and financial support from the Texas AFL-CIO. The marchers reached Robstown on July 29, 1966, where supporters held a rally at the Knights of Columbus Hall and a mass at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, and provided food and lodging. The next morning, they marched into Corpus Christi along Hwy 44 (Agnes Street), spurred on by hundreds of local supporters. Mass was held at the Corpus Christi Cathedral and a rally at the Peoples Street T-Head to benefit the strike and march was attended by more than 800 people, with over $1,000 raised. From Corpus Christi. They marched on to Austin, meeting obstacles but gaining support along the way. The march culminated in Austin with a rally on Labor Day 1966 with more than 10,000 people in attendance. Among the significant effects of the march and rallies was the eventual passage of the 1971 state minimum hourly wage law, though it did not apply to farm workers that augmented the number of Mexican American elected officials and further mobilized the Chicano Civil Rights Movement in Texas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In June 1966, some 700 melon pickers in Starr County struck for wages that met the federal minimum and for humane conditions, aided by organizer Eugene Nelson and local reformers Margil Sanchez and Lucio Galvan. Meeting resistance, they set out on a 380-mile march from Rio Grande City to Austin, gathering food, lodging, and supporters town by town—including a rally of more than 800 in Corpus Christi. The march culminated on Labor Day with over 10,000 people at the state capitol.
Why it matters
The 1966 farm workers' march galvanized the Chicano civil rights movement in Texas and helped drive the state's first minimum-wage law, marking a turning point in Mexican American political mobilization.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Eugene Nelson
- · Margil Sanchez
- · Lucio Galvan
Related events
- · 1966 Starr County farm workers strike
- · March to Austin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Cheston L. Heath School
Corpus Christi, TX
What began in 1896 as a one-year experiment to teach Corpus Christi's Mexican American children grew into a thriving school, gaining a permanent building in 1901 and later named for benefactor Cheston L. Heath. Under longtime principal Rose Dunne Shaw—who ran a soup kitchen for her pupils during the Depression—it educated generations of students until 1968, when they were integrated into other district schools; the site later became the Nueces County Courthouse.
LULAC
Corpus Christi, TX
On February 17, 1929, delegates gathered in Corpus Christi's Obreros Hall to merge three Texas organizations into the League of United Latin American Citizens — LULAC. Corpus Christi businessman Ben Garza chaired the founding meeting and was elected the new group's first president at its convention that May. From these local roots LULAC grew into one of the most influential civil rights organizations of the twentieth century, pioneering educational, social, and legal programs for Hispanic Americans nationwide.
Solomon Coles (1844-1924) and Solomon Coles School
Corpus Christi, TX
Born enslaved in Petersburg, Virginia, Solomon Coles learned to read from a sheriff who broke the law to teach him, then worked his way through college as the first Black student at Connecticut's Guilford Institute, earning degrees at Lincoln University and Yale. He came to Texas in 1877 and, believing education essential for Black children, left the ministry to teach and lead the Corpus Christi school for Black students who then attended only two months a year. A high school built in 1925 was named in his honor, later becoming Solomon M. Coles Elementary School.
French-Galvan House
Corpus Christi, TX
Built in 1907–08 for surveyor and civil engineer A. M. French, a New Hampshire native who helped construct the Texas-Mexican railroad, this colonial revival home later passed to Corpus Christi policeman Rafael Galvan in 1942. Galvan was a founding charter member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and a prominent businessman who ran a popular ballroom. With its wraparound galleries, Ionic columns, and Palladian dormer window, the house stayed in the Galvan family for four decades.