Cesar Chavez outside Safeway supermarket in Seattle, Washington, 1969

Cesar Chavez outside Safeway supermarket in Seattle, Washington, 1969

This photograph was taken on December 19, 1969 outside of a Safeway supermarket in Seattle, Washington. Chavez is the central figure in the photo: the man in a plaid jacket holding the “Don’t Buy California Grapes” sign. A strike by workers and a consumer boycott had been launched against grape growers in September of 1965. In 1968, Chavez went on a 25-day hunger strike to express disapproval for the violent turn the movement had taken in some places. Chavez’s hunger strike, another form of non-violent protest, garnered national attention, hence the significant press coverage of this Seattle protest. After five years, the strike was resolved in favor of the agricultural laborers when nearly all of the major growers signed contracts with the United Farm Workers of America in 1970.

Sweet, Barry (Associated Press)

December 19, 1969

©Barry Sweet/Associated Press