Not all essential labor is equally celebrated in our society. Agricultural labor is often overlooked but it is important to examine its histories, especially as COVID-19 shines a light on issues rooted in the past that are still present in agriculture and other areas of society. Despite union victories of the 1800s and 1900s, such as child labor laws, the eight-hour workday, and the five-day workweek-i.e., creation of the weekend-there are still movements aimed at undermining workers’ rights in the United States. laborers, agricultural and otherwise, continue to face these challenges today. Workers and organizers faced uneven legal protection isolation prejudice reliance on imported, exploitable workers and opposition from state and federal officials who either represented agribusiness or were themselves major agricultural landowners.

Until the successes of the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s, agriculture was one of the last industries to hold out on unionization due to social and legal obstacles.

United farm workers strike