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.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The mid-1960s were a turning point for farm workers across the American Southwest. In California, farm workers had walked off the grape fields around Delano in 1965. The strike drew national attention to the low pay, lack of protections, and hard conditions of agricultural labor. The National Farm Workers Association, the union at the center of that fight, soon began to look toward other farming regions.
The Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was one of them. Starr County was a place of irrigated fields and large growers, with a workforce made up mostly of Mexican American and Mexican laborers. Many of those workers earned less than the national minimum wage. Farm work was largely left out of the labor protections that other American workers had won in earlier decades, which made it hard for them to demand better.
The politics of the moment mattered too. The national civil rights movement had just produced major federal laws on civil rights and voting. In Texas, Mexican Americans had been organizing for decades, often through veterans' and civic groups. Corpus Christi had long been one of the centers of that activism. By 1966 many were ready for more direct, visible forms of protest.
That is the backdrop to the melon strike and the long walk that followed. It began as a local labor dispute over wages and working conditions and grew into something much larger.
People & events
On June 1, 1966, around 700 melon workers in Starr County walked off the job. They were protesting wages below the national minimum and harsh working conditions. Eugene Nelson of the National Farm Workers Association had come to South Texas and organized a local affiliate, the Independent Workers Association. He led the strike against La Casita Farms and other growers in the area.
Nelson did not work alone. Two local men, Margil Sanchez and Lucio Galvan, had been calling for reform for years. Their standing in the community gave the strike roots it could not have had with an outside organizer by himself. When the growers refused to budge, and local authorities met the strikers with violence, the workers decided to take their case to the state capital.
On July 5, 1966, marchers set out from Rio Grande City on a 380-mile walk to Austin. The plan was to urge state officials to create a Texas minimum wage. Along the way, families opened their homes to the marchers, and each town added supporters. The Texas AFL-CIO sent supplies and money. On July 29 they reached Robstown, where supporters held a rally at the Knights of Columbus Hall and a Mass at St. Anthony's Catholic Church and gave the marchers food and a place to sleep.
The next morning they marched into Corpus Christi along Highway 44, or Agnes Street, with hundreds of local people cheering them on. Mass was said at the Corpus Christi Cathedral. A rally at the Peoples Street T-Head on the bayfront drew more than 800 people and raised over $1,000 for the cause. The marchers then went on toward Austin, facing more obstacles and picking up more support. On Labor Day 1966, more than 10,000 people rallied with them at the capital.
Its place in the American story
The Starr County strike and march are a Texas chapter of a national story: farm workers demanding recognition as workers entitled to basic protections. The march took the same approach as the California farm worker movement. It relied on nonviolent protest, church support, and long public walks, and it tied the dignity of labor to the dignity of an entire community.
Its effects in Texas were concrete. The march helped bring about the state's minimum hourly wage law in 1971. There was a bitter irony in that law, though, because it did not cover farm workers, the people whose strike had started the whole campaign. That gap shows how long agricultural laborers remained outside protections other Americans took for granted.
The march's deeper legacy was political. It helped increase the number of Mexican American elected officials and gave new energy to the Chicano civil rights movement in Texas. A generation of activists saw that walking together, town by town, could turn a local grievance into a statewide cause.
That is why the rally stop in Corpus Christi matters. The march made the case that Mexican Americans in Texas would not accept being left out of American labor rights and political power, and Corpus Christi helped carry it forward.
If you visit
This marker is in Corpus Christi, the city that welcomed the marchers in July 1966 with a Mass, a bayfront rally, and more than $1,000 in donations. As you stand here, picture hundreds of local supporters lining Agnes Street as tired marchers came in from Robstown. Many of them had already walked well over a hundred miles in the South Texas summer heat.
The bayfront is an easy place to connect with the story. The T-Heads that reach out into Corpus Christi Bay, including Peoples Street, are part of the downtown waterfront, and a walk along the seawall gives you a feel for the public space where the rally happened.
For a longer road trip, you can follow the rough line of the march yourself. It started in Rio Grande City on the border, passed through Robstown, and continued north toward Austin. Driving part of that route in air conditioning is a humbling way to understand what 380 miles on foot really meant.
Families can use this stop to talk about fairness, work, and how ordinary people change laws. The key point is that a few hundred melon pickers who decided they deserved at least the minimum wage set off a movement.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Eugene Nelson
- · Margil Sanchez
- · Lucio Galvan
Related events
- · 1966 Starr County farm workers strike
- · March to Austin
Themes & tags
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