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Title:

"Student lettuce protest and boycott at San Fernando Valley State College"

Date:
December 8, 1970

Synopsis

In September of 1970, United Farm Workers asked consumers to boycott all head lettuce that had not been picked by members of the UFW. This was an attempt to put pressure on the major lettuce growers to recognize the UFW as the bargaining unit for farm workers. Here, reporter Dick Garten covers a student rally and cafeteria boycott at San Fernando Valley State College in support of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. Footage from the rally includes shots of the campus, bits of some of the speeches (speakers are not identified), students watching and reacting to the speeches, and musicians playing the guitar and singing in Spanish. There are also shots of protest signs with slogans such as "Free Cesar Chavez" and "Boycott scab lettuce." Also included is Dick Garten's voiceover narration giving some background on the origins of the protest, and the reasons for the boycott and Cesar Chavez's jailing. The voiceover segments are sound only.

Note:  The KTLA newsfilm collection at UCLA consists of cut and unedited stories, outtakes and fill footage, originally shot on 16mm reversal film stock with magnetic soundtrack. Some footage, particularly material not used for broadcast, may be without sound.