On September 7, 1963, the worst road accident in American history happened on a railroad crossing just outside of Chualar. This set off a battle for the 32 bodies of the victims that ended up uniting the Mexican community against the bracero program that had been giving low-wage workers to American farmers since WWII. It also helped unite a Mexican-American civil rights movement that had been divided between "urban" and "rural" Mexicans, setting off a larger struggle for the representation of all Mexicans in the United States.