In 1973, Dorothy Day was in California to stand with the United Farm Workers. The UFW was in conflict with grape growers who had signed contracts with the rival Teamsters union, undermining years of organizing and collective bargaining by the farm workers’ movement. When farm workers launched strikes and boycotts, the growers responded with intimidation and arrests. Day, who always championed the dignity of workers, saw supporting the farmworkers’ demands as a direct extension of her mission of love, rooted in both Catholic social teaching and the Catholic Worker movement’s commitment to the poor.
Dorothy Day was defending the cause of the farm laborer in this now-iconic photograph: Day, old and tough, resolute, facing a row of police officers armed with sidearms. The image captured an unarmed but badass woman confronting the power of the state with nothing but faith and conviction. Her presence signaled that the farmworkers’ cause was not just a labor dispute but a unambiguous question of human rights and dignity. Today is Labor Day, but we must remember the dignity of every person every day, regardless of how they make their money, or their social status.