La Marcha: Stories of Resilience in the 1966 Texas Farm Workers' March

Presented by Bishop Joel N. Martinez, retired UMC, and Rebecca Flores, retired president of Texas UFW. In 1966, farm workers in the melon fields of Starr County began a strike for a living wage and humane working conditions. This is the amazing story of their grueling 490-mile march for justice from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin that helped launch the Chicano Movement in Texas.

Bishop Joel N. Martinez was born in Seguin, the grandson of a sharecropper. Throughout his long career as a pastor and a global executive in the United Methodist Church, he fought for the civil rights of laborers.

Rebecca Flores was the President of the Texas Union of Farmworkers (TFUW) and a State Director for the National AFL CIO. From 1983 to 1988, she helped pass historic farm worker legislation. Both Martinez and Flores worked with Cesar Chavez to organize farm laborers and advocate for immigrant rights.

This event is part of the Big Read Seguin led by TLU in partnership with the Seguin Public Library and Teatro de Artes de Juan Seguin. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Big Read program broadens the understanding of the world, neighbors, and ourselves through books. Showcasing a diverse range of themes, voices, and perspectives, the NEA Big Read aims to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses, and new discoveries and connections in each community.