They were few, but they did what they could.
    While hundreds of thousands of Hispanics rallied in California and Texas in the 1960s and 1970s, community activists say Utah was filled with "a lot of little" demonstrations organized by Latinos fighting for equality.
    They picketed at grocery stores, calling for owners to buy produce from union farm workers. They demanded more Latino teachers, professors and administrators be hired at public schools and universities. They protested a height requirement for police officers that they say kept many Latinos from becoming officers.
    "We started organizing from scratch - there was nothing here," says William Gonzalez, a retired professor who was born and raised in southern Utah.
    Now, decades later, Latinos in the Beehive State are organizing what they say might be the largest rallies in state history.
    There is a Dignity March scheduled for today and a Unity Rally on Monday in downtown Salt Lake City "to send a peaceful message in favor of the passage of humane and comprehensive immigration reform," a news release on the march says. Similar demonstrations are scheduled Monday from California to Washington, D.C.
    Longtime Latino activists in Utah say the immigration rallies are long overdue. The rallies are focused on immigration reform, but ultimately they're about equality for Latinos - those who have been here for generations and those who recently immigrated here, they say.
    "You think that in this day and age things should have changed," Gonzalez said. "They're still fighting for the same things we were fighting for 25 years ago."
    The largest Latino protest in recent Utah history was in March 2005 when some 2,000 people, mostly Latinos, marched around downtown Salt Lake City in protest of Utah Senate Bill 227, which was signed into law the next morning by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. The law eliminated state driver licenses and identification cards for undocumented residents, replacing the documents with driving privilege cards. The protest was organized by University Of Utah Latino students.
    Javier Saenz, a social psychologist, says Utah Latinos started organizing protests in the early 1960s "to be heard, to be seen." There were no Latino journalists, TV stations or newspapers reporting on Hispanic issues, such as more funding for Latino college scholarships and equal employment opportunities for Hispanics, he said.
    "Discrimination was strong then. Now, it's probably 100 percent better," says Saenz, a Panama native who moved to Utah in 1959 for college. "There wouldn't be anything if people wouldn't have spoken up."
    A few of the more successful demonstrations organized by Latinos in the 1960s and 1970s were attended by 200 to 300 people at the most, says Archie Archuleta, a Colorado native who moved to Utah in 1953.
    Archuleta remembers protesting at the Safeway grocery store at 900 South and Main Street in December 1973.
   About 50 people were demanding that the national chain store buy produce from union farm workers. He also says people at the time were boycotting grapes, lettuce and wine.
    Now, 33 years later, Archuleta says he plans to participate in today's protest at the City-County Building.
    "It was time to organize a big one," Archuleta, 75, says. "It will send a loud message."
    jsanchez@sltrib.com
   
   
   Utah activist
   
    A few of the more successful demonstrations organized by Latinos in the 1960s and 1970s were attended by 200 to 300 people at the most, says Archie Archuleta, a Colorado native who moved to Utah in 1953.
    In December 1973, Archuleta remembers protesting at the Safely grocery store at 900 South and Main Street. About 50 people were demanding that the national chain store buy produce from union farm workers. He also says people at the time were boycotting grapes, lettuce and wine.
    Now, 33 years later, Archuleta says he plans to participate in today's protest at the City-County Building.
    "It was time to organize a big one," Archuleta, 75, says. "It will send a loud message."
   
   A short history of protests in Utah
   
   * One of the largest protests, if not the largest, in state history was Oct. 15, 1969. About 4,200 people marched from the University of Utah campus to the Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City to protest the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. The only arrest was of a 19-year-old woman for displaying a flag or banner with intent to engender disloyalty to the U.S. government.
   
   * In the 1960s and 1970s, Latino community activists say the largest protests organized by Hispanics were attended by about 200 to 300 people.
   
   * The largest Latino protest in recent state history was March 7, 2005. Roughly 2,000 people, mostly Latinos, marched around downtown Salt Lake City in protest of Utah Senate Bill 227, which eliminated state driver licenses and identification cards for undocumented residents, replacing the documents with driving privilege cards. No one was arrested during the protest.
   
   * On Sept. 24, 2005, thousands marched in downtown Salt Lake City calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops in Iraq. Organizers estimated the crowd at some 2,500 protesters; the Salt Lake Police put the number at 1,000. Six people were arrested during the demonstration.
   
   Sources: Tribune articles and interviews with community leaders
   
   Utah's changing demographics - by the numbers
   * Number of Latinos in 1970: 33,911
   
   * Number of Latinos in 2000: 201,559
   
    Percentage increase:
   494 percent
   
   * Number of whites in 1970: 1,031,926
   
   * Number of whites in 2000: 1,992,975
   
    Percentage increase:
   93 percent