Cesar Chavez, Salinas Valley, 1970

United Farm Workers (UFW) president Cesar Chavez shows his support for Salinas Valley farm workers with a rally in a Salinas Valley lettuce field.  In the early 1970s, the UFW organized strikes and boycotts—including the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history—to protest for, and later win, higher wages for those farm workers who were working for grape and lettuce growers. The union also won passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which gave collective bargaining rights to farm workers  (Photo: Monterey County Herald Archive), 1970

Hitchhiking in Big Sur, 1971

The hitchhiking movement reaches its peak around 1971 especially during the summer in Big Sur.  As reported by the Monterey Herald, Big Sur became a Mecca for young travelers who were looking for a ride north or south in the state or just starting a backpacking trip in the Big Sur backcountry.  Three young women hitchhiking on Highway 1 in Big Sur on September 5, 1971.  (Monterey County Herald Archives)