Seeds of Toil: Three American Stories of Resilience and Resistance
Section Titles and Descriptions for Seeds of Toil:
The Pineapple Plantation
In 1903, the first Koreans arrived to the plantations of Hawaii aboard the steam ship Gaelic. They dreamed of a new life free from political persecution, but most would sign contracts with plantations binding them to becoming agricultural workers; picking sugarcane and pineapples. These individuals ended up on the Hawaiian plantations where they lived and worked tirelessly under harsh conditions, often for generations.
Prisoner #44257
Executive Order 9066 (EO9066) was a United States presidential executive order signed by Franklin Delanor Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, imprisoning over 120,000 Japanese Americans and those of Japanese descent, in desolate locations in America for the duration of WWII. These individuals lost their homes and their land. Many were agriculturalists who had built the California agricultural industry.
Coalición
In the 1960’s grape pickers in California worked in unsafe, underpaid conditions. A major coalition formed between the Filipino and Mexican workers and together, they organized the Delano grape strike. The major labor strike was organized against table grape growers who were exploiting workers. The strike lasted 5 years. It began in September 1965 and by August 1966, the AWOC a predominantly Filipino labor organization and the NFWA, a predominantly Mexican labor organization merged to create the United Farm Workers (UFW) Organizing Committee. In July 1970, over 10,000 farm workers were granted victory from the strike, affording them safer working conditions.