“The flag was conceived in 1962, when Chávez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farmworkers Union, the predecessor of the United Farm Workers. A symbol was needed for the marches being planned, so César’s brother, Richard, and his cousin, Manuel, begin working on flag designs, borrowing the symbol of the eagle from the Aztecs, the indigenous people so many Mexican Americans identify with. On a brown paper wrapper, as the legend goes, the first initial designs of an eagle with squared-off wings were created, and chosen, as has been recounted into UFW labor lore. Andrew Zermeño, a graphic-artist friend of the family, interpreted the wings as an inverted pyramid.
As a communication symbol used for posters and fliers, the mark wasn't compromised by limited resources. When it needed to be printed, there would always be shops with PMS 185, a standard red, on hand. The lines were so definite and simple that the skills of volunteer nonartists or trained printers working in art centers around the West could shape the symbol of their identity with a nationalistic vigor. When the UFW began organizing lettuce and strawberry pickers in and around Salinas in the 1970s, women living in company housing turned their quarters into fabricas de banderas, or flag factories, to manufacture banners for the coming strike.” — from How One Flag Went From Representing Farmworkers to Flying for the Entire Latino Community
Image from Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nortenos.jpg
