Date Created:
Place Created: San Antonio, Texas
Year Created: 1938
Historical Theme:
Description: The 1938 Pecan Shellers Strike was one of San Antonio’s largest labor actions. It involved approximately 12,000 pecan shellers who walked off the job to protest wage cuts and unsafe, unventilated workrooms in the city’s booming shelling industry. On January 31, 1938, predominantly Mexican American women shellers demanded higher pay, up from five to seven cents per pound for pecan pieces and halves, and better working conditions in cramped facilities, which lacked running water and proper ventilation. Twenty‑one‑year‑old labor activist Emma Tenayuca emerged as the strike’s leader, earning the nickname “La Pasionaria” for her passionate speeches and organizing prowess. City authorities responded by arresting hundreds of picketers and shutting down soup kitchens for strikers. Governor James Allred convened a civil‑liberties commission to investigate police abuses amid red‑baiting campaigns by local officials. After six weeks on strike, shellers agreed on March 8 to submit to arbitration, winning a modest wage bump, only to see a much higher federal minimum wage established later in 1938.
Categories of Documents:
San Antonio, Texas