Multiracial Organizing
A Book Talk on Multiracial Organizing with Dr. Oliver A. Rosales
The Central Labor Council, the Central Valley Partnership, and Arte Américas hosted a book talk on Civil Rights in Bakersfield by Dr. Oliver A. Rosales. Attendees explored the multiracial coalitions that fought for civil rights in a city known for its political conservatism and industrial agriculture. The discussion highlighted how these movements continue to inspire today’s fight for social justice in the Central Valley.
This event has passed but you can view photos and the workshop below!
About the Book
In Civil Rights in Bakersfield, Oliver Rosales uncovers the role of the multiracial west in shaping the course of US civil rights history. Focusing on Bakersfield, one of the few sizable cities within California’s Central Valley for much of the twentieth century in a region most commonly known as a bastion of political conservatism, oil, and industrial agriculture, Rosales documents how multiracial coalitions emerged to challenge histories of racial segregation and discrimination. He recounts how the region was home to both the historic farm worker movement, led by César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong, and also a robust multiracial civil rights movement beyond the fields. This multiracial push for civil rights reform included struggles for fair housing, school integration, public health, media representation, and greater political representation for Black and Brown communities. In expanding on this history of multiracial activism, Rosales further explores the challenges activists faced in community organizing and how the legacies of coalition building contribute to ongoing activist efforts in the Central Valley of today.
A multiracial history of civil rights coalitions beyond the farm worker movement in twentieth-century Bakersfield, California.
Oliver A. Rosales Biographical
Oliver A. Rosales is a Professor of History and former Faculty Coordinator of the Social Justice Institute at Bakersfield College. A graduate of Bakersfield College, he earned a B.A. in History at the University of California, Berkeley, M.A. in History at California State University, Bakersfield, and a PhD in History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also a former Visiting Faculty at the Bard College Master of Arts in Teaching Program and a Visiting Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies at Harvard University. He is a contributor to The Chicano Movement: Perspectives from the Twenty-First Century; Civil Rights and Beyond: African American and Latino/a Activism in the Twentieth Century United States; The Journal of the West; and author of Civil Rights in Bakersfield: Segregation and Multiracial Activism in the Central Valley published by the University of Texas Press in 2024. He has served on the Nominating Board of the Organization of American Historians and is the former Board Chair for California Humanities. He is also the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including most recently the Whiting Foundation’s 2022-23 Public Engagement Fellowship, as well as a Landmarks in American History & Culture grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that will bring 72 K-12 teachers from across America to Bakersfield to study the region’s migrant agricultural labor history in Summer 2025. He also serves as a historical consultant to the National Parks Service and National Chavez Center in Keene, California. At Bakersfield College, he teaches courses in Chicano/a, California, United States, and World history.