10:00am: Mass at St. Edward’s University Queen of Peace Chapel
11:00am: Unveiling of Plaque at Ragsdale Student Center St. Edward’s
Noon: Program on the Quad at St. Edward’s
1:00pm.: Start of 4 mile march to the Capitol
4:00pm: Arrive at Capitol for a Rally

50 years ago on June 1, 1966, 400 farm workers in Starr County, Texas began a strike against 6 growers asking for an increase in pay from the pittance of 40 cents an hour they were earning then. They were also asking for the right to form their own union.

As the strike continued the next year, they were beaten and jailed by the Texas Rangers and mistreated by the Judges, Sheriff’s deputies, and prosecutors of Starr County. To make their issues known in Texas, they began a march to Austin. Just north of New Braunfels, Governor John Connally met them on the side of the road to try to turn them back. He told them he would not support their demand to increase the Texas Minimum Wage Law to $1.25.

On Labor Day, 1966, 10,000 people in Austin joined the farm workers on the last 4 miles of the march to the Capitol. Though the law was not passed until 1970, and no union contracts were signed, this Strike was the spark that started the Chicano movement in Texas.