Question

On August 27, 1934, Filipino lettuce cutters and mainly white packing shed workers struck the powerful Salinas Valley, California, growers and shippers, demanding union recognition and improved working conditions. But the growers used divisive tactics and scab labor to cause setbacks to the workers’ struggles.

What are people in the photographs doing?

Answer 1

I don’t have the photographs — could you upload them? I can then identify exactly what people are doing.

If you can’t upload them right now, here are the most likely activities given the August 27, 1934 Salinas lettuce strike context, and visual clues to look for:

- Picketing/protesting: people standing or marching in groups, often holding signs or banners, sometimes blocking a road or entrance. Look for placards, raised fists, or a line of people facing a building or vehicles.
- Marching/demonstrating: a procession of people walking together, possibly chanting or carrying flags.
- Working in the fields (lettuce cutting): people bent over rows of crops, using knives or hand tools, baskets or crates nearby.
- Packing-shed activity or scabs at work: people inside or around a shed handling crates, loading trucks, or on ladders; may be mostly white workers (historical note: packing-shed workers were largely white).
- Confrontation with police/guards: officers or deputized guards present, people grouped around them, tense body language.
- Meetings or organizing: people seated or standing in a circle, listening to a speaker, or holding papers.

If you upload the photos I’ll give a precise description of what each person is doing and the visual evidence that supports it.