- In October 1933, truck caravans of striking California cotton pickers from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Union carried picketers over 114 miles of back roads. When workers were spotted, migrant farm workers set up picket lines and attempted to talk them out of the fields. The union sought recognition, equal pay for equal work, wage increases, and improved living conditions. Co-led by Caroline Decker, over 18,000 farmworkers struck, paralyzing the cotton industry. Evicted from grower-owned housing, strikers were also refused service at stores because of pressure from growers. The state of California eventually provided food, marking the only time the government fed the strikers. When workers assembled in Pixley on October 12 to protest the arrest of 17 strikers, two workers were killed and several wounded by “deputy sheriffs,” growers deputized by law enforcement. After 24 days, a State Mediation Board forced a compromise, ending one of the largest farm workers strikes in history.
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