On this day in San Antonio history: Pecan shellers strike

Flashback: Tenayuca and more than 1,000 workers were jailed throughout the three-month strike.

• In April, the pecan workers and the companies agreed to arbitration. The three-person arbitration panel ruled in favor of the workers.
• By October, the minimum wage was raised to 25 cents. This photo was taken by Farm Security Administration photographer Russell Lee about a year after the strike, as he toured the U.S. during the Great Depression.

Yes, but: The Southern Pecan Shelling Company and other San Antonio companies filed an appeal against the new minimum wage. When they were unsuccessful, companies laid off about 10,000 employees and replaced them with shelling machines, per the Library of Congress.

The bottom line: Eighty-five years later, the strike is remembered as one of the earliest and largest actions for Mexican American civil rights in U.S. history.