Power from the Past

Memory Work Research Initiative

Marching, 2000

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Striking color image from a protest on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. In the center of the image is an Archbishop wearing his vestments and carrying a large staff. In striking symmetry, one of the janitors behind hi is carrying a mop at almost the exact same angle.

After more than a decade of continuous organizing, the Justice for Janitors campaign of SEIU Local 1877 launched a citywide strike in the spring of 2000. Thousands of janitors, a large majority of the immigrants, shut down building service work and marched loudly across the city, shutting down busy intersections and disrupting the quiet of upper class neighborhoods. The janitors’ victory became a symbol of the potential revitalization of the labor movement in concert with the drive for immigrant rights. More images from J4J available in the SEIU-USWW records (Collection 1940), UCLA Library Special Collections.