1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:04,400 Speaker 1: How shall I begin my story that has no beginning? 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: This is Esperanza, Esperanza Kintero. 3 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 2: She is a housewife in New Mexico, living in a 4 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 2: small town. 5 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: When I was a child, it was called San Marcos. 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: The Anglos changed the name to Zinctown, Zinctown, New Mexico, 7 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:23,800 Speaker 1: us A. 8 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 2: The image is black and white, dusty roads, clothes swaying 9 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 2: on laundry lines in the desert, wind shacks with corrugated 10 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 2: tin roofs. 11 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: Our roots go deep in this place, deeper than the pines, 12 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:40,239 Speaker 1: deeper than the mine shafts. 13 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 2: Zinc Town is owned by a mining company. All the land, 14 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 2: all the houses, it all belongs to the company. 15 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 3: I am a miner's wife. 16 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: Eighteen years my husband has given to that mine, living 17 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: half his life with dynamite and darkness. 18 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 2: This is how the film Salt of the Earth begins. 19 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 2: It's a portrait of a desolate place dominated by mining 20 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 2: and by injustice. Mexican Americans in town don't have running 21 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 2: water in their homes, while Anglos, as the Mexicans call 22 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 2: them do. Mexicans are more likely to be killed in 23 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 2: the mines because they're required to work alone, but Anglos 24 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 2: are allowed to work in pairs, and Mexicans are constantly 25 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 2: put down by their bosses and treated like dirt. On 26 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 2: this day, Ramon Esperanza's husband is considering whether to go 27 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 2: on strike with the other Mexican American miners. They want 28 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 2: to demand equal pay and safer working conditions. What happened 29 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 2: next in this small New Mexico mining town is not 30 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 2: just the plot of a dramatic film. 31 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 3: It's real. 32 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 2: The miners, the discrimination, the dangerous working conditions, and the strike. 33 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 2: They're all based on a true story from Futuro Media. 34 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 2: It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Ino Rossin. The film Assault 35 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 2: of the Earth was made only a year or so 36 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 2: after the strike and released in nineteen fifty four. It 37 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 2: tells the story of how a group of Mexican American 38 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 2: miners took on a powerful mining company to demand their rights. 39 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 2: Their fifteen month long strike includes some unexpected heroes, and 40 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,359 Speaker 2: we'll explain that soon, but first you need to understand 41 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 2: how radical the film was for the nineteen fifties. Politicians 42 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,359 Speaker 2: at the time were determined to root out secret communists 43 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 2: from Hollywood. There were even public interrogations of filmmakers, what 44 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 2: are you now? 45 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 4: Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party. 46 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 2: This is audio of the interrogation of filmmaker Herbert Biberman 47 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 2: in front of the House on American Activities Committee. 48 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:10,640 Speaker 5: Purposes to use this to just drop the motion picture industry. 49 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 2: Bieberman ended up serving time in prison and was blacklisted 50 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 2: in Hollywood because of his suspected communist sympathies, and then 51 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 2: he made Salt of the Earth along with two other 52 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,079 Speaker 2: men who had also been blacklisted. It seems pretty clear 53 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,959 Speaker 2: that Salt of the Earth was an act of defiance. 54 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 2: The government had sanctioned the filmmakers for leftist sympathies, so 55 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 2: they made a movie that was unapologetically leftist. In nineteen 56 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 2: fifty four, the film was so controversial only a few 57 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 2: theaters across the US would show it. Salt of the 58 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 2: Earth was essentially buried from public site for decades, but 59 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 2: in the nineteen seventies, Chicano and feminist movements embraced the film. 60 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 2: They saw it as an example of what social justice 61 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 2: movements could actually look like. In twenty eighteen, producer Sayer 62 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 2: Givedo traveled to Grant County, New Mexico to uncover the 63 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 2: story of what would come to be called the Empire 64 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 2: Zinc strike. He wanted to find out how a sleepy 65 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 2: mining town erupted into protest, and if almost seventy years later, 66 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 2: anyone still remembers, say er Givedo is going to take 67 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 2: it from here. 68 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 3: Before I tell you about what things are like in 69 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 3: Grant County. Now I'm gonna tell you the story about 70 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 3: how things were, and we're going to start with our 71 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 3: Tuto Flores. He was an important figure in the Empire 72 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 3: Zinc strikes. Hi, please come make thank you. How he 73 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 3: how's it going? 74 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 6: My dad, Arthur Flotis, he's one hundred years old, one 75 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 6: of the first life president's Local light ninety. 76 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 3: The Local eight ninety is the name of the miners 77 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 3: union in Grand County. By the way, we're going to 78 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 3: hear about it a lot, and our Tudo Flotes was 79 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 3: a union leader there in the nineteen fifties. 80 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 6: I have written here it's okay. I have okay. How Ever, 81 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 6: I have no problem with talking a minute or a 82 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 6: hundred nuble to be dumb. 83 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 3: You seem like you're doing just fine. 84 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 6: Just show you what we have. 85 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 3: Ar Tudo sits in a wheelchair. His thin silver hair 86 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 3: is neatly combed, His son, Larry lays out a set 87 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 3: of old photographs on the table. 88 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 6: Here's Dad, and here's some of the actors from the 89 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 6: movie Clan. 90 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 3: Men walking out of the union hall, women in flannels 91 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 3: and big brimmed hats smiling triumphantly at the camera. There's 92 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 3: our Tuto. He has a full head of thick black hair. 93 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,599 Speaker 3: The photo is labeled Local eight ninety Activists nineteen fifty three. 94 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 3: I've come here to speak with ar Tuto because he is, 95 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 3: as far as I can tell, one of the oldest 96 00:05:55,880 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 3: living witnesses of the Empire Zinc strikes. Since our Tudo 97 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 3: can't hear that well, I write questions down on a 98 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 3: piece of paper and hold them up for him to read. 99 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,039 Speaker 3: Our Tudo tells me about his childhood in Grant County. 100 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 3: The place in the movie Zinctown, isn't real, but the 101 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 3: county is dotted with little mining towns. Ur Tuto's dad 102 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 3: worked in the minds. His mother was a homemaker, and 103 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 3: Ar Tudo was a smart kid. He loved to read. 104 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 6: Before I was twelve, I had read the Bible three times. 105 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 6: I could like to read your mic. 106 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 3: R Tuto tells me the story about a county wide 107 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 3: history competition when he was in sixth grade. He made 108 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 3: it to the very last round and then lost. 109 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 6: Teacher really Shad came to me and she said, you won, 110 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 6: but you didn't get it the number one because it 111 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,359 Speaker 6: said they can't give it to a Mexican. That's the 112 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 6: party of the company, and they were hired by the company. 113 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,479 Speaker 6: A company at that time had a party that Mexicans 114 00:06:58,839 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 6: were treated different. 115 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 3: Mexicans were treated differently, he says. And the company our 116 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 3: Tuto is referring to is one of several companies that 117 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 3: owned mines across Grant County. A historian Elen R. Baker 118 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 3: wrote a book about all of this called On Strike 119 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,239 Speaker 3: and on Film, and she explained just how much power 120 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 3: the mining companies had. They owned the land and houses 121 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 3: in some towns, and in other cases actually owned whole 122 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 3: towns themselves, which meant they could discriminate all they wanted. 123 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 6: The company had, How did were the anglos and shacks 124 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 6: for the Mexicans. 125 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 3: Whole towns were divided white people or anglos as they 126 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 3: called them, on one side and Mexicans on the other. 127 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 3: Anglos were given higher paying jobs in the mines, while 128 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 3: Mexicans were forced to work underground for less. As a 129 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 3: young man, ar Tuto flots left for the military, and 130 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 3: when he came back, he started working at the mine nearby, 131 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 3: digging up zinc. The mine was run by the Empire 132 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 3: Zinc Company. 133 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 6: When I came back from a service that treated me 134 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 6: terreb and I said, this is going to change. 135 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 3: Artuto was a member of the miners union at Empire 136 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 3: Zinc mine. Almost every mining Grant county had a union, 137 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 3: and so there were a lot of little unions, but 138 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 3: they didn't work together to negotiate contracts or better working conditions, 139 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 3: and their grievances were often ignored by the mining companies. 140 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 3: Then in the late nineteen forties, something changed. A representative 141 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,679 Speaker 3: from the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers 142 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 3: showed up at ar Tudo's doorstep. His name was Clinton Jenks. 143 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 3: He asked our Tudo, are you the one who's been complaining. 144 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 6: I said yeh. I said, we're divided, we have no power. 145 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 6: They make fun of us. Now we are to do something. 146 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 6: He said, yes, but I need some help. 147 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 3: Ar Tudo worked with the national representative Jenks to bring 148 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,439 Speaker 3: the unions together into a single, more powerful group that 149 00:08:57,480 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 3: would represent all of them. It was called the Low 150 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 3: late ninety. By nineteen forty eight, five of the unions 151 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 3: had signed on. They bought an old building in the 152 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 3: town of Deming to be their union hall. A couple 153 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 3: of years later, in nineteen fifty, the miners contracts at 154 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 3: Empires Inc. Mine came up for negotiation. This time the 155 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 3: workers demanded a fifteen cent raise, two more paid holidays, 156 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 3: and a change to the payment system that favored white miners, 157 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 3: but the company refused to negotiate. That's when the men 158 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 3: decided to go on strike. The film Salt of the 159 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 3: Earth depicts these true events with a little extra dramas 160 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:40,439 Speaker 3: up to. 161 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 4: Your brothers see see see Say Say Say Say, say 162 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 4: say Hey. 163 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: And so it began, much like any other strike. There 164 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: would be no settlement, the company said, till the men 165 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: returned to their jobs. 166 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 3: The men set up a picket line blocking the entrances 167 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 3: to the mine. They carried signs from the surrounding hills. 168 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 3: They watched for scabs miners who were trying to cross 169 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 3: the picket line to work. Probably right, Empires In Company 170 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 3: drove miners from neighboring mines in the county to try 171 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 3: to cross the picket line. 172 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:19,839 Speaker 7: To work. 173 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 3: Others chose to come on their own. There's some important 174 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,840 Speaker 3: context we have to explain here. So remember this was 175 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 3: a time of hysteria about communists infiltrating Hollywood, the government 176 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 3: and unions, and in nineteen forty seven Congress passed this 177 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 3: law known as the Taft Heartley Act. It redefined the 178 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:43,319 Speaker 3: relationship between unions and employers, but most importantly for our story, 179 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 3: it included this provision requiring all union officers to sign 180 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 3: an affidavit swearing that they weren't communists, and if they didn't, 181 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:53,679 Speaker 3: they gave up their union's right to have their grievances 182 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 3: heard by the federal government. The local eight ninety had 183 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 3: refused to sign it, and the company had no intens 184 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 3: of compromising with Mexican miners, especially those who might also 185 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 3: be communists. 186 00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: The strike did not end. It went on and on 187 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: into the fourth month, the fifth, the sixth, the company 188 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: still refused to negotiate. 189 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 3: Then in the eighth month, lawyers from the Empire's in 190 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 3: company approached a local judge. Our Tudo floatists said they 191 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 3: took advantage of a loophole. 192 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 6: They went to court and should the guide the closing 193 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:31,679 Speaker 6: the street. 194 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 3: The company said that the strikers should not be allowed 195 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 3: to block the road, and the judge ordered the strikers 196 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 3: to stop. And because the local late ninety had refused 197 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 3: to sign those affidavits promising they weren't communists, they couldn't 198 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 3: ask the government to help mediate the dispute. They were stuck. 199 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 4: If we obey the court, the strike will be lost. 200 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 4: The scabs will move in as soon as our picket 201 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 4: line is gone. If we defy the court, our pickets 202 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,319 Speaker 4: will be at The strike will be lost. 203 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 3: Anyway, what happens next ultimately changed the fate of this strike, 204 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 3: turning it from an ordinary event into a historic one. 205 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 8: If you read the courting engine carefully, you will see 206 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 8: that it only prohibits striking miners from picketing. We women 207 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 8: are not striking miners. We will take over your picket life. 208 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 3: Women had been involved in the strike since day one, 209 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:29,679 Speaker 3: but they were often relegated to working behind the scenes, 210 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 3: cooking for the strikers, collecting donations, handing out leaflets. They 211 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 3: were the wives, sisters, and daughters of the miners, but 212 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 3: now they had an idea they would take over for 213 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 3: the men. Those miners were not comfortable with the women's proposal, and. 214 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 7: What will happen when the cops come and bit our 215 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 7: women up? 216 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 5: Are we gonna stand there and watch them? No, we'll 217 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 5: take over anyway, and we'll be right back when we started, 218 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 5: only worse, even more humiliated. Brothers, brothers, I beg you 219 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:07,679 Speaker 5: don't allow that. 220 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 6: Mostly what chosen the film is the way they acted, 221 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 6: especially the guy who was supposed to have been the 222 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 6: leader of the strike. 223 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,680 Speaker 3: This is maybe one of the most interesting tensions of 224 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 3: the Empire's in strike. The people who would have benefited 225 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,839 Speaker 3: most from having the women take over the miners were 226 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 3: the ones who were against it. They were embarrassed. They 227 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 3: knew that if the women were out blocking the roads, 228 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,320 Speaker 3: the men would have to stay home and take care 229 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 3: of the kids. 230 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 6: Clint asked for a vote of the city instead of 231 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 6: justing members, so that the women could vote. 232 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 3: Every adult living in town was given a vote instead 233 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 3: of just the union members, who were almost all men. 234 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 4: All those in favor that the sisters take hold of 235 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 4: the picket line were so signified by raising their hands 236 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 4: all over the poles. 237 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,280 Speaker 3: Some men silently lifted their hands into the air, but 238 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 3: it wasn't enough. 239 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:13,439 Speaker 4: The motion has carried a hundred and three to eighty five. 240 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 6: And they voted overwhelmed to be understrike. 241 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,479 Speaker 3: The women would replace the men on the picket line. 242 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: And so they came. 243 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 3: The women. 244 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: They came from Sinktown in the hills beyond, from other 245 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: mining camps, ten twenty thirty miles away. Women we had 246 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: never seen before, women who had nothing to do with 247 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: the strike. Somehow they heard about the women's pegot line 248 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: and they came. 249 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 3: Meanwhile, the men took over at home. 250 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 6: They had to take care of the house, and they 251 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 6: found out that the women worked as hard as they 252 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 6: did on something. 253 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 3: This sudden change in social hierarchy wasn't easy for the 254 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:58,000 Speaker 3: men to handle. In the film that includes the central 255 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 3: couple Esperanza and Ramond. 256 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,840 Speaker 1: Have you learned nothing from this strike? Why are you 257 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: afraid to have me at your side? Do you still 258 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: think you can have dignity only if I have none? 259 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 5: Stalk off days after what you've been doing. 260 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: Yes, I took up dignity. The angler busses looked down 261 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: on you, and you hate them, fling staying your plate. 262 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: You're dirty Mexican, that's what they tell you. But why 263 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: must you say to me staying your place? 264 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 6: Do you feel better. 265 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: Having somewhere lord, and you shut up. 266 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 4: You're talking great. 267 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 3: The women understood that they were fighting for more than 268 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 3: just the men's jobs. They were fighting to be given respect, 269 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 3: and despite the discomfort, the reality was that the men 270 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 3: did need the women to win, and the company knew 271 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 3: that too. According to the book by Elean R. Baker, 272 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 3: the local sheriff hired a gang of new deputies paid 273 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 3: for by the Empire's in company. Their job was to 274 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 3: break up scuffles, but mostly they intimidated the women. They 275 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 3: would arrive at the picket line and throw tear gas 276 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 3: to try and disperse the crowd. They tried to drive 277 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 3: their cars through the line, and at one point they 278 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 3: even threw the women in jail along with some of 279 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 3: their children. And then, in January nineteen fifty two, over 280 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 3: a year after the strike had begun, the company finally 281 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 3: gave in and agreed to negotiate with the miners. They 282 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 3: had won all thanks to the women of Grant County. 283 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 6: So that stroke did one thing as far as I'm concerned. 284 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 6: They showed that the women could also get in a 285 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 6: fight and be as militant as the men were, and 286 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 6: when if they had to and they did. 287 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 3: The men were able to go back to work thanks 288 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,440 Speaker 3: to the women, and the miners received a wage increase, 289 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 3: vacation benefits, a pension plan, and a health plan. It 290 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 3: wasn't everything they asked for, but the miners had also 291 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 3: won the confidence that if they worked together, they could 292 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 3: be powerful, and soon the real story of the strike 293 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 3: was being turned into a film. Salts of the Earth 294 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,120 Speaker 3: was shot on location in Grant County, New Mexico, using 295 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 3: many of the real miners and their families as actors. 296 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 3: Because the writer, producer, and director, the men you heard earlier, 297 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 3: Herbert Bieberman, had all been blacklisted in Hollywood, it was 298 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 3: not easy to finish the film, and when it was 299 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,479 Speaker 3: released in nineteen fifty four, almost no theater would show it. 300 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:39,840 Speaker 3: But in the decades that followed, Salts of the Earth 301 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,920 Speaker 3: would be embraced by activists for its depiction of workers, 302 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 3: Chicano's and women's empowerment. In nineteen ninety two, the film 303 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 3: was included in the National Film Registry at the Library 304 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 3: of Congress, a symbol of its importance to American culture. 305 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,400 Speaker 3: Two weeks after I talked with artudro Flores, the local 306 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 3: eight ninety Fie leader. His son informed me that he 307 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 3: had passed away. He was one hundred years old. I 308 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 3: found myself coming back to the last thing he said 309 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 3: to me during the interview. 310 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:14,399 Speaker 6: I've been reading up on history. I like to read 311 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 6: history a lot, because I think that if you read history, 312 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 6: you'll find out how society's advance, how they become powerful, 313 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 6: and how they dissolved and why. You know what dissolve societies. 314 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 2: Greed. 315 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 3: Greedy said, is what dissolved societies. At the end of 316 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 3: the Salts of the Earth film, Esperanza looks out triumphantly 317 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:50,920 Speaker 3: at the town. 318 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 1: Then I knew we had one something they could never 319 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,360 Speaker 1: take away, something I could lead to my children. They 320 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,920 Speaker 1: dessault of the Earth would inherit it. 321 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 3: The miners victory, she seems to say, will mean a 322 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 3: better life for future generations. It's been nearly seventy years 323 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 3: since the empire z In strike, So what did future 324 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 3: generations inherit? I went to Grand County to find out. 325 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 2: Coming up Sayer discovers that the memory of a successful 326 00:19:32,359 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 2: movement is hard to keep alive. Stay with us, Yes, hey, 327 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 2: we're back. So we've heard the story of a strike 328 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,680 Speaker 2: in New Mexico's Grant County in the early nineteen fifties, 329 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,000 Speaker 2: and we've heard about the film that it inspired, called 330 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 2: Salt of the Earth. Now producer Sayah Caveto takes us 331 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 2: back to Grant County to find out how this strike 332 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 2: is remembered and what's been forgotten. 333 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:40,959 Speaker 3: So before we start this journey, I want to give 334 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 3: you a lay of the land. You're going to hear 335 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 3: a lot of names. Silver City, Fyedro, san Rita, Hanover, Bayard. 336 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,359 Speaker 3: These are all towns in Grand County, all within about 337 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:52,959 Speaker 3: fifteen or twenty minutes of each other. And we're going 338 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,320 Speaker 3: to begin in the town of Bayard. 339 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:55,760 Speaker 6: You do what good? How are you? 340 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,440 Speaker 3: Terry Humble picks me up in front of the local library. 341 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 3: He was a kid when the strike happened and remembers 342 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,199 Speaker 3: it pretty well. Later he became a miner like his 343 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 3: dad before him, and a member of the union, the 344 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 3: local eight ninety. Now he writes about the mines and 345 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 3: he gives guided tours of the county. Usually it's in 346 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 3: a bus, but today, since it's just me, we take 347 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 3: his truck. 348 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 7: Well it's closest. 349 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 9: Let's go down to the Union hall first. 350 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 7: Of course, we're in. 351 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:27,440 Speaker 9: Downtown Baird population pretty close to three thousand, and it'll 352 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,480 Speaker 9: never get any bigger because it's completely surrounded by mountains 353 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 9: of company land. 354 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 3: From here, I can see the low wheat colored hills 355 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 3: and slate rocks and hills of mining waste. They look 356 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 3: like brown, beige and red aquarium. 357 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 4: Sand. 358 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 3: Trucks pass us heading towards the mine. The men inside 359 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,720 Speaker 3: them wear neon reflective vests. I thinks, seem pretty quiet 360 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 3: this morning. 361 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,360 Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, it's a quiet little town. This is our 362 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 9: union hall here. This was the union hall also during 363 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 9: the assault of the earth strike. Nott if we get 364 00:21:58,520 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 9: out and look at it, no, not a bit. 365 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 3: The Local eight ninety Union Hall is still the original 366 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,640 Speaker 3: old building they bought back in the nineteen forties. It's 367 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,239 Speaker 3: where the miners used to meet during the strike. It 368 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 3: was also a community center. It's where they held parties, baptisms, 369 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:16,040 Speaker 3: and other celebrations. A mural on the front wall of 370 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,159 Speaker 3: the building tells the story of the Empire Zinc strike. 371 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 3: There's even a painting of the women with their signs 372 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:24,880 Speaker 3: dancing in a circle and laughing. 373 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 9: The women, of course, would get out and dance once 374 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,639 Speaker 9: in a while, just for something to do and carry 375 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:30,359 Speaker 9: their placards. 376 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 3: If you go to open the door of the union hall, 377 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 3: you'll find it locked. Looking through the window, it's like 378 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,920 Speaker 3: someone left for the day and never came back. There's 379 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 3: a Local eight ninety member jacket hanging on the wall, 380 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 3: filing cabinets full of documents, and a bottle of cold 381 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 3: medicine half full, still sitting on one of the desks. 382 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 9: And I used to have a key, but they changed 383 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 9: all locks. 384 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 3: In the years after the Empire Zinc strike, the Local 385 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 3: eight ninety hit a rough patch financially. They burned through 386 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,159 Speaker 3: a lot of their money defending themselves in court for 387 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 3: the refusal to sign that affidavit that confirmed they weren't 388 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 3: communists and for arrests made during the strike. But still, 389 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 3: Terry says, the union's base remained strong for decades. 390 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 9: And we would always have anywhere from I would say 391 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 9: thirty two one hundred people on our monthly meetings because 392 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 9: it was a large union. I don't know it had 393 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,159 Speaker 9: several hundred members. We would almost invariably have some of 394 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,919 Speaker 9: the old timers that had retired years ago, but they 395 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 9: were so strong Union boy. They were there to give 396 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,119 Speaker 9: support and they would always get up and give a 397 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 9: little talk to the newcomers, you know, to let them know, says, 398 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 9: don't take what you've got for granted. You know you're 399 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,679 Speaker 9: getting a fantastic wage and benefits. Don't take it for 400 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 9: granted because we had to win it for you. 401 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:51,199 Speaker 3: The metal mining industry can be very unstable. When demand 402 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 3: is high, the minds hire more people. When prices dip, 403 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,439 Speaker 3: companies layoff miners or even shut down their operations. In 404 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 3: two thousand and eight, hundreds of minors were laid off 405 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 3: here from the mines after copper prices went down under 406 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,359 Speaker 3: two dollars a pound, and so even though the union 407 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 3: won important benefits for the miners, it couldn't entirely protect them. 408 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 3: The younger people in this town. Do you think know 409 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 3: much about the history of what has gone down here 410 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 3: in terms of the strikes and the union and the mind. 411 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 9: Ir regrettably, no. The younger people had the benefits when 412 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 9: they started to work. They didn't have to go on 413 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 9: strike or do anything. They didn't have to negotiate to 414 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 9: get the benefits, and they just figured they were there. 415 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 9: They took them for granted. So it's unfortunate, but the 416 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 9: younger generation does not know that much about the history 417 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 9: of the unions or seemed to care. 418 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,919 Speaker 3: Unions in Grant County have followed the trend of unions 419 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 3: across the United States. In fact, rates of union membership 420 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,359 Speaker 3: nationwide peaked in nineteen fifty four, just after the Empire 421 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 3: Zinc strikes. The number of people in unions has been 422 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 3: on the decline ever since. The way Terry tells it, 423 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 3: every company that went on to own Minds in Grand 424 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 3: County tried to undercut the power of the union, and 425 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 3: every few years someone in the union would apply for 426 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 3: decertification basically that means shutting the union down. They never 427 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 3: got enough votes to pass it until twenty fourteen. De 428 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 3: certification was brought to a vote again and it passed. 429 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 3: That was the end of the local late ninety Terry 430 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 3: drives us back up that same main street that runs 431 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 3: through Bayard. Along the way, he points out the Empire 432 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 3: Zinc mine. 433 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 9: This is probably as close as you'll get to some mind. 434 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,400 Speaker 3: Two years after the strike, Empire Zinc shut down operation 435 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,400 Speaker 3: for a time, meaning many of those who had fought 436 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,399 Speaker 3: for better conditions there were now without jobs. Eventually, the 437 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:56,639 Speaker 3: mind shut down for good in nineteen sixty seven. The 438 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,399 Speaker 3: town that Terry and Artudo are from. Santa Rita is 439 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,920 Speaker 3: just a giant open mining pit now. Hanover in Fiedro. 440 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,479 Speaker 3: The two towns where most of the Empire's inc miners 441 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 3: once lived, are now mostly empty except for a handful 442 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,520 Speaker 3: of houses. But mining is still the largest employer in 443 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,200 Speaker 3: the county. You don't have to look far for evidence 444 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:16,520 Speaker 3: of that. 445 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 9: Now. Just six months ago, that mountain was fifty feet taller. 446 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,439 Speaker 9: That's Hanover Mountain. That's what they're gonna They're knocking it 447 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 9: down all the way and hauling it over to Santa 448 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,560 Speaker 9: Rita because it's full of copper. But that that thing 449 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 9: was a lot taller six months ago. 450 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 3: They're literally moving mountains. 451 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 4: So they are. 452 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,200 Speaker 9: And then when they get down at the bottom and 453 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 9: get rid of the mountain, if the copper continues, which 454 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,239 Speaker 9: they think it does, it'll be an open pit just 455 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 9: like yeah, they'll keep hauling it. 456 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 5: Yep. 457 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 3: It's almost like an inverse mountain. 458 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 9: That's a good, a good way to put it in, 459 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:55,919 Speaker 9: an inverse mountain. 460 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 3: I make one more stop with Terry. We arrive at 461 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 3: a bridge and get out. Tucked off on the side 462 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,679 Speaker 3: of the bridge, there's a small cement block with a 463 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 3: plaque Terry reads. 464 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 9: This bridge is dedicated to the Mine Mill Women's Auxiliary 465 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 9: of nineteen fifty one fifty two, These brave women took 466 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 9: over the picket line. 467 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 3: The only sound on this little road is of the 468 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,359 Speaker 3: hall trucks from the mines humming down the mountains in 469 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 3: the distance. This is where the women used to picket 470 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:24,960 Speaker 3: during the strike. 471 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 6: People. 472 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 3: Terry says that when Salt of the Earth was made, 473 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,639 Speaker 3: the strike scenes were filmed in hidden places away in 474 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,400 Speaker 3: the hills where no one could. 475 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 9: See, because if they came out here and tried to 476 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:50,400 Speaker 9: make the movie that people would show up and start 477 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 9: throwing rocks and stuff at them because there was so 478 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:57,120 Speaker 9: much bad feelings against the union people. Even after this day, 479 00:27:57,840 --> 00:27:59,919 Speaker 9: you can talk to a local person that was alive 480 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,400 Speaker 9: were involved in any way, and you'll know in fifteen 481 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,120 Speaker 9: twenty seconds which side they were on. 482 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:07,919 Speaker 3: So it's still something that carries weight for folks. 483 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 9: Yes, it still has a stigma to it. Actually, they 484 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 9: were talking about making the Union Hall a little museum, 485 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 9: and I immediately got two phone calls from elderly Anglos 486 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 9: that said, what in. 487 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 3: The world are they trying to do? 488 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 7: They can't stir that stuff up. 489 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,879 Speaker 9: We've got to stop them. And I mean that was 490 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:26,159 Speaker 9: just a year or. 491 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 3: So ago, but the strike still has admirers. During one 492 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,640 Speaker 3: of the anniversaries, Terry remembers seeing lots of Latinos, many 493 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 3: of them who had lived in the area but moved away. 494 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 3: They came back to pay their respects, and there were 495 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,640 Speaker 3: also newcomers to the town who were curious about the history. 496 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 9: Boy one time, one of the Salt of the Earth anniversaries, 497 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 9: I think we had five buses and must have had 498 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 9: eleven cars following the buses, and people got here, and 499 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 9: we even had that time had a couple of the 500 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 9: old ladies that were on the picket line. One of 501 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 9: them just passed away a few days ago. 502 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 3: The women who passed away just a few days before 503 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 3: I met Terry, her name was one of Sierra. There's 504 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 3: a video of her from one of the Salts of 505 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,560 Speaker 3: the Earth anniversaries, standing in front of this plaque, surrounded 506 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,960 Speaker 3: by a small crowd. Wana is describing being taken to 507 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,680 Speaker 3: jail and beaten by sheriff's deputies. 508 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 5: Each heart and I hope that you don't feel the 509 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 5: way they used to feel from me when they took 510 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 5: us over there. 511 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 3: Because you I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die for my people. 512 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 3: This is the only voice you'll hear in the story 513 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 3: of one of the women who walked the picket line 514 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 3: in the Empire's inc strikes. To tell you the truth. 515 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 3: When I went to New Mexico, I was mostly interested 516 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 3: in hearing from the women, but there were very few left. 517 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 3: There's one named Rachel who I tried to meet and 518 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 3: to call over and over, and she clearly didn't want 519 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 3: to talk. Remember, the strike happened in the nineteen fifties, 520 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 3: so most of those who participated are gone or dead. 521 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 9: The people that were old enough to actually be on 522 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 9: the picket line as adults. There may be one or 523 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 9: two of the women left, so I don't know if 524 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 9: anybody for sure that's alive. 525 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 3: Grant County is a shifting landscape, full of hollowed spaces, 526 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 3: visible and invisible, underground tunnels that go for miles, pits 527 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 3: that expand, mountains that shrink, and the collective memory that 528 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 3: once tied these communities together is also like the mountains 529 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 3: slowly disappearing. Later that night, I head to the house 530 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:36,840 Speaker 3: of Willy and the Sola. He was a small kid 531 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 3: when the strike happened. I wanted to hear what Willy 532 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 3: remembered from the strike and his take on what's happened. 533 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 3: Since how are you? The inside walls of Willy's garage 534 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 3: are covered in bumper stickers that say things like wish 535 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 3: you were beer, or everyone needs something to believe in. 536 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 3: I believe I'll have another beer? 537 00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:58,160 Speaker 7: Will to meet you? 538 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:05,720 Speaker 3: Or Sunday, say Sunday. There's a little fire crackling in 539 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,200 Speaker 3: the furnace, and Willie's friend Roger is with us. You 540 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 3: can hear him in the background sometimes. 541 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,959 Speaker 7: Did you take him to that where he happened the strike? 542 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 7: Terry Humble? Okay, Terry Humble, Now that that's a good 543 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 7: information with Terry Humble. Yeah, you know, well, I can 544 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 7: tell you I was. I was really too small man, 545 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,800 Speaker 7: you know. Now my dad worked at the mine, etc. 546 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 7: But to sow support, the women went over there. 547 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 3: Willie's mom was one of the women's strikers. He was 548 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 3: about six years old, and what he remembers most clearly 549 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,720 Speaker 3: is the day that he was taken to jail. This 550 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 3: was when the sheriff's deputies were trying to intimidate the 551 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 3: women if they were with their children The kids were 552 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 3: also put behind bars. 553 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 7: My brother was a baby. My mom still had them 554 00:31:55,400 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 7: the arms and I remember, you know, the policeman yank 555 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 7: me man. I thought he was gonna turn my arm 556 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 7: off and put me in the car that took us 557 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 7: to jail. But it was too damn crowded. I remember 558 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,600 Speaker 7: a girl. They girl passed out, you know, because we 559 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 7: were small. They were in the back. We could bring 560 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,680 Speaker 7: it with was not in affair, but the women took 561 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 7: care of me. 562 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 3: One of those women was want to see it, the 563 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:24,600 Speaker 3: striker who passed away the other day. 564 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 7: Something that you don't forget. 565 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 3: Did you ever watch the film? Do you remember watching it? 566 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:29,720 Speaker 6: The movie? 567 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 7: No, they want to see it, my mon. They wanted 568 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 7: me to see it, my dad, they wanted me to 569 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 7: see it. So we didn't get to see it, you know, 570 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:40,960 Speaker 7: because they said, is not going to help it. And 571 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 7: I make prother things worse because sometimes I would would 572 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:52,040 Speaker 7: wake up yelling. Now if I want to see it nowadays, 573 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:57,479 Speaker 7: maybe you know, maybe I don't think it's just springs. 574 00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:57,960 Speaker 6: Memories. 575 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 7: They haven't gone. 576 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,840 Speaker 3: Memory is a sensitive thing for Willie and for many 577 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,160 Speaker 3: of those who lived through the strike. I've heard of 578 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 3: other children of strikers who've also never watched the film. 579 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 3: Even though the strike was ultimately successful for the striker's children, 580 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 3: many of whom were too young to understand what was happening, 581 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 3: it was a scary time. Of course. In Grant County, 582 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 3: it's hard to avoid reminders of that moment, especially the 583 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 3: minds themselves whose abandoned entrances you can see from the road. 584 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 3: Willy also went on to work in the mines. 585 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 7: And the benefits were great, you know, because of the union. 586 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 7: They were bringing people, promoting people to be supervisors. 587 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 3: He says he was asked to be a supervisor three 588 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 3: times and he didn't want it. 589 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,320 Speaker 7: But the strong unit guys of all timers talked to me. 590 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,720 Speaker 7: He said, look take it. He said, look what they're 591 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 7: doing to us, these people they're now you're froming around here, 592 00:33:58,960 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 7: you know. 593 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 3: And so finally Willie said, yes. 594 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 7: A mom quit talking to me. She called me Vin Diesel, 595 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 7: I don't know an Englishman soul. She was really disappointed. 596 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:17,319 Speaker 3: Sold or sellout is what she called him. WILLI and 597 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 3: his mom didn't speak for three years. In her eyes, 598 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 3: her son was cozying up right next to the same 599 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:26,759 Speaker 3: people that I dragged her to jail when he was 600 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,719 Speaker 3: a child. They were able to reconcile, but his mom 601 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 3: still talked about the union. 602 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 7: She always tells me, Okay, don't forget, don't forget your union. 603 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 7: In here. 604 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,560 Speaker 3: Willie says his children didn't show much interest in the 605 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 3: history of the strike, and he encouraged them to get 606 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,560 Speaker 3: an education so they wouldn't have to work in the minds, 607 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:52,799 Speaker 3: so they could have the kind of freedom he didn't have, 608 00:34:53,320 --> 00:35:03,279 Speaker 3: including the freedom to forget. On my last day in 609 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 3: Grant County, Mary Lou Chavez takes me to a cemetery 610 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,600 Speaker 3: in the town of Fiedro. It's one of the towns 611 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,560 Speaker 3: where many of the miners from the Empire Zinc strike lived. 612 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 3: It's mostly abandoned now. In my search for people who 613 00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 3: remembered the strike, Mary Lou is one of the last 614 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 3: names on my list. She's wearing sweatpants and a hoodie 615 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 3: with mini mouse printed on the back. Mary Lou reminds 616 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 3: me there's a funeral tomorrow, the one for one of Sierra, 617 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:29,520 Speaker 3: the striker who passed away the other day. 618 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,480 Speaker 10: These ladies are going to marry tomorrow to her brothers 619 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:38,360 Speaker 10: got killed in the mine. I want to see their graves. 620 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 3: Mary Lou's a part of a committee in charge of 621 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:43,680 Speaker 3: the upkeep of the cemetery and the church, the last 622 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 3: two monuments of what used to be fiedro. 623 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,359 Speaker 10: Some days had just come and walk around the cemetery 624 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,640 Speaker 10: and the memories are get here. I wish those old 625 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:55,640 Speaker 10: days were back. 626 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,760 Speaker 3: She remembers how they used to leave their doors unlocked, 627 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 3: how the neighborhood kids would dart around each other's houses 628 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:05,799 Speaker 3: playing cowboys and Indians. The cemetery is freckled with worn 629 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 3: down tombstones and crosses. A big metal Jesus watches over 630 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:12,880 Speaker 3: the place. From here, you can still hear the sound 631 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,080 Speaker 3: of trucks coming down from the mine. 632 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 10: See nineteen forty seven. 633 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,000 Speaker 3: We approach a set of graves. 634 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,239 Speaker 10: And the sister is going to get buried here tomorrow. 635 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 3: She points to a little plot of unoccupied earth where 636 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 3: Wana will be buried. Ask her whether she thinks the 637 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,640 Speaker 3: next generation will take on the upkeep of the cemetery 638 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 3: when she's gone. 639 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:43,759 Speaker 10: We hope so, We hope so, because nobody have to 640 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 10: do it. 641 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,360 Speaker 3: Mary Lou tells me she plans to be buried in 642 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,279 Speaker 3: the cemetery too, surrounded by the people she grew up 643 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:54,719 Speaker 3: with the miners and strikers, the kids she used to 644 00:36:54,719 --> 00:37:00,759 Speaker 3: play with. Every social movement has to contend with what 645 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,680 Speaker 3: the next generation will do with its victory, and Grant 646 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,239 Speaker 3: County is no different. What the strikers fought for was 647 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,799 Speaker 3: better wages and working conditions, but in another sense, they 648 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,000 Speaker 3: fought for the future of their children. And those children 649 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,879 Speaker 3: the Salt of the Earth did inherit something that could 650 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:21,839 Speaker 3: never be taken away. Choices to stay or to leave, 651 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 3: to keep the union or not to work in the 652 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 3: minds or not to remember or forget. And what the 653 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 3: next generation does with those choices their inheritance will be 654 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:46,280 Speaker 3: entirely up to them. 655 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,720 Speaker 2: Our thanks to producer Saa Quevedo for reporting this story. 656 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 2: Special thanks to Sarah Maloney, Sonya Dixon, Roger Duarte, Michelle Kells, 657 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 2: Larry Floydes, and Ellen R. Baker, who wrote the book 658 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 2: on Strike on Film Mexican American Families and blacklisted filmmakers 659 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,840 Speaker 2: in Cold War America. And if you're interested in learning 660 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 2: more about the strike, you can read testimonials from strikers 661 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,319 Speaker 2: and their families online at the Salt of the Earth 662 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 2: Recovery Project linked on our website. This episode Originally aired 663 00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 2: in May of twenty nineteen. It was produced by ser 664 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,600 Speaker 2: Guevedo and edited by Alison McCadam. The Latino USA team 665 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:45,360 Speaker 2: includes Niel Massis, Sofia Palissaka, Luis Tres, Janis Jamoca, Ujeta Martinelli, 666 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,720 Speaker 2: Gimi Montago, Alisas Carcel and Alejandra Salassa, with help. 667 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 3: From Roul Berez. 668 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,280 Speaker 2: Our engineers are Stephanie Lebau and Julia Caruso. Additional engineering 669 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,360 Speaker 2: this week by Leah Shaw. Our director of programming and 670 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:02,760 Speaker 2: Operations is nataliafi Hos. Our digital editor is Aamandel Cantra. 671 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,720 Speaker 2: Our New York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow is Juria Rocha. 672 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,960 Speaker 2: Our interns are Sophia Sanchez and Marie Mendosa. Our theme 673 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 2: music was composed by Seger Rubinos. If you like the 674 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,800 Speaker 2: music you heard on this episode, stop by Lettino Usa 675 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,359 Speaker 2: dot org and check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm 676 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 2: your host and executive producer Marie Nojosa. Join us again 677 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,239 Speaker 2: next time, and in the meantime, look for us on 678 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 2: all of your social media. Wye Joe. 679 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:36,400 Speaker 11: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation, 680 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 11: working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. 681 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:46,800 Speaker 11: The John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and W. K. 682 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:51,799 Speaker 11: Kellogg Foundation, a partner with communities where children come First. 683 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,760 Speaker 2: Where are you Sayer, Sayer, Sayer? Are you read? 684 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:01,600 Speaker 5: Be pay