California Dreamin’ Bringing Kern County’s Labor History to the Classroom

This summer, 72 educators from here at home and across the nation will embark on an interactive journey through the history of labor and migration in California’s Central Valley. The California Dreamin’ program is once again bringing to light our region’s rich and often overlooked history.

Co-directors Dr. Oliver Rosales of Bakersfield College (BC) and Dr. Adam Sawyer of California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) are organizing the week-long professional development program. Teachers will visit key historic sites, participate in seminars, and develop lesson plans to bring these stories back to their classrooms.

“California is so multifaceted, and people think they know it without really knowing it,” Sawyer said. “We have teachers from all over the country who come to Bakersfield and are engrossed with this history.”

Funded by a $190,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the program hopes to provide teachers with a cost-free firsthand experience of life during the Dust Bowl Migration, the civil rights and migrant labor movements, and among the diverse ethnic communities that call Kern County home.

Isabel Mireles-Olascoaga is a fifth-grade teacher with the Lamont Elementary School District (LESD) who participated in California Dreamin’ in 2023. She called the program one-of-a-kind and eye-opening. 

“Every day felt like a treat,” she said. “To feel what it’s like to be there while listening to the history, I found that to be very powerful.”

Participants will visit General Allensworth State Park, the first African American self-sustaining town in California, Weedpatch Sunset Labor Camp, the setting for John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, Agbayani Village at Forty Acres in Delano, the historic headquarters of the United Farm Workers, and the César E. Chávez National Monument in Keene. 

“As we walk you through these sites, we’re going in a chronological order. We’re talking about a century of migrant agricultural history,” Rosales said.

Teachers will explore the multicultural nature and diverse roots of Central Valley’s history, including the often-overlooked contributions of Filipino laborers, including Larry Itliong, considered one of the fathers of the West Coast labor movement.

“I did not know of the role of the Filipinos in the movement, and who Larry Itliong even was,” Mireles-Olascoaga said. “Just to be able to learn about that was very interesting.”

Many local educators who have gone through the California Dreamin’ program say they didn’t know about the impactful history that took place in their own backyard. Rosales and Sawyer stress the importance of place-based learning, showing students they are a part of their local history.

“It’s telling students that they matter, and the places that they come from, and perhaps their relatives and ancestors come from, those places matter,” Sawyer said.

Beyond the professional development, the program fosters a sense of community. Educators are invited to stay in CSUB dorms and form lasting connections with fellow teachers. The experience also includes a Basque dinner at Woolgrowers, where they will learn about Basque migration.

“At least half of the participants have never had Basque food, and they’re blown away by it,” Rosales said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

On the final day, educators create and present Unit Snapshots showing how they plan to integrate what they learned in their classrooms. They will discuss each other’s work to gain ideas and better understand how the program can be applied to their lessons. 

“I need to do my part to make sure that these stories are heard and that they’re not forgotten,” Mireles-Olascoaga said. “I feel responsible for doing my part in making sure that I’m including that in my own teaching.”

California Dreamin’ ran its first successful program in 2023 with such an overwhelmingly positive response that Rosales and Sawyer decided to bring it back this summer. The program will take place July 6-11 and July 20-25 with 72 chosen participants. The program is particularly beneficial to fourth, eighth, and 12th grade teachers due to Common Core State Standards, though Rosales and Sawyer are inviting all K-12 teachers to apply before the March 5 deadline. 

“Anybody who’s moved by this work, we would encourage you to consider applying,” Sawyer said.

Mireles-Olascoaga says she loved the experience and recommends that all her fellow teachers participate. 

“Every day I would look forward to whatever place we were going to visit,” she said. “It made such an impact on me.”

For more information about the program and to apply, visit the California Dreamin’ website.