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- Cesar Chavez was a Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist who dedicated his life’s work to what he called la causa (the cause): the struggle of farm workers in the United States to improve their working and living conditions through organizing and negotiating contracts with their employers.
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Aug 5, 2017 · Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) in 1962. The UFW achieved many successes for farm workers, including collective bargaining rights and better working conditions.
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Cesario Estrada Chavez ( / ˈtʃɑːvɛz /; Spanish: [ˈtʃaβes]; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to become the United ...
Oct 6, 2018 · Cesar Chavez is the leader of the American labor and the civil rights activist. He was also the co-founder of the National Farm workers associations.
Jun 20, 2024 · Cesar Chavez, organizer of migrant American farmworkers and a cofounder with Dolores Huerta of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) in 1962. In recognition of his nonviolent activism and support of working people, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Overview
- Early life
- Advocating for workers’ rights
- Becoming an American icon
- Fasting and end of life
The civil rights leader spent his life advocating for farm workers, drawing on the peaceful tactics used by Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi.
César Chávez poses for a portrait in 1991, two years before he died at age 66. The leader used nonviolent strategies to advocate for farm workers' rights.
César Estrada Chávez was born on March 31, 1927, on a small family homestead outside Yuma, Arizona. Over the next six decades, he went from back-breaking work in California’s fields to national fame, fighting for the rights of millions of farm workers.
Though he became an icon for Mexican Americans, he saw power in uniting people of all races. Drawing from Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Chávez preached nonviolence and used striking, boycotting, and fasting to achieve farm workers’ goals.
Chávez, a first-generation Mexican American, was heavily influenced by the values of his family. His father gave away much of the family income to help others, while his mother pledged to never turn anyone away for food. Chávez’s grandmother “Mama Tella” also instilled in him a strong sense of faith.
When he was 10, he and his family were evicted from their Arizona home. They journeyed to California, where they became some of the state’s 250,000 migrant workers. The work was grueling and required hard labor in the sun for minimal wages.
(Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.?)
As a teen, he lived in migrant camps that often lacked indoor plumbing, had little electricity, and offered little protection from the elements. Often, workers were also required to pay their employers high fees for housing, food, and other supplies.
From 1952 to 1962, Chávez worked with the Community Service Organization (CSO), whose mission was to train Latino community leaders. In 1958, the group organized a sit-down strike in the fields of Oxnard, California, west of Los Angeles. Chávez coordinated boycotts and encouraged workers to keep meticulous records and file formal complaints with the government. It was a pivotal two years in which he learned how to organize.
CSO is also where Chávez also met Dolores Huerta, who became a lifelong friend and ally in his fight for workers’ rights. Over their 30 years working together, she became a force behind the scenes as well as an outspoken leader and organizer. She was involved in everything from legislative action and writing speeches, to managing the union’s daily operations. Huerta also coined the motto most associated with Chávez and UFW—“Sí se puede.”
The organization launched to national prominence in 1965 with the Delano Grape Strike. Thousands of workers in the farming town northwest of Bakersfield went on strike to demand a 15-cent hourly raise (from $1.25 to $1.40), and a 15-cent increase earned for each box of grapes packed ($0.10 to $0.25).
(How Gandhi changed political protest.)
To break up the strikes, companies attempted to intimidate demonstrators by spraying chemicals on them, and threatening them with guns and dogs. Inspired by Gandhi and King, Chávez urged followers to not retaliate.
Attention to the strike snowballed and a national TV special, “The Harvest of Shame,” exposed the conditions workers were subjected to. Soon, reporters were coming to Delano to speak with Chávez. But an agreement between growers and the union was still out of reach.
Despite the success of the march, many growers still refused to negotiate with the union. As frustration built among its members, talks of violence bubbled up. In February 1968, Chávez announced he would fast to rededicate the movement to nonviolence.
Inspired by Gandhi, Chávez saw fasting as a powerful, nonviolent way to overcome personal weakness and garner support. So for 25 days, he only drank water. Chávez lost 35 pounds during the fast, and doctors worried for his life, but hundreds, then thousands, came to visit and offer their support. Martin Luther King Jr. sent a letter of encouragement and Robert Kennedy came to the mass marking the end of the fast.
By 1969, grapes had become a symbol of farm worker exploitation, and Chávez was at the center of the story, even appearing on the cover of Time in July of that year. Boycotts became so widespread that millions of pounds of grapes were left to rot unpurchased. By 1970, the UFW got grape growers to accept union contracts and had effectively organized most of the industry.
UFW continued to make strides through the decades that followed, outlawing the short handled hoe, which devastated workers’ backs, and speaking out about the effects of pesticides on workers’ health.
- Allie Yang
May 20, 2021 · Cesar Chavez was a key Latino activist and labor leader who co-founded the UFW with Dolores Huerta to improve the lives of migrant workers. Influenced by nonviolent protest methods, his efforts led to better pay and conditions for agricultural laborers.
Chávez’s childhood as a migrant farmworker would forever shape him as he experienced firsthand the injustices of brutally long hours, back-breaking labor, corrupt labor contractors who deducted high rents from workers’ pay, and extremely low wages.
