Cesar Chavez was born near the town of Yuma ibn Arizona. He was born into a Mexican family on March 31,1927. Both of Cesar Chavez's parents were farmers and they owned a farm in Arizona. That was untill the Great depression hit the U.S. After the stocks dropped, his family lost their farm and house, and they had to kove to California, were they began a new life as migrant farm workers. Due to the poor income,Cesar Chavez was only 10 when he started to work in the fields with his parents. At a early he age he knew all about the hardships pf low-wage workers(as he was one of them too). Cesar explains that he would remember the hot sun burning against his skin and the long days. He began work at 5 in the morning, and finished at arounbd 10 in the night. In 1045, he joined the U.S navy during WW2 and in 1948 he met his wife Helena and married her in the same year. They moved together to East San Jose, where they had 8 children and thought farmers how to read and write so they could become U.S citizens.
Click here to see a more detailed biography of his childhoodHis interest in labor organizing began in 1952, after he met Father Donald McDonnell and Fred Ross. They were both activist Catholic priests and part of the Community Service Organization group. After they met a couple of times, Cesar was recruited to the organization by the priest. Not long, Cesar became the national directer of this organization group, but later resigned in 1962 to devote his time to to organize a union for farm workers.
Click here to read more on the realtionship of Fred Ross and Cesar ChavezOn September of 1965, the Farm Workers Association voted to join a strike that had been initiated by the Filipino grape workers. Not long after, Cesar joined the strike with the Farm Workers Association. Within months Chavez and his union became nationally known. However, the march on Sacramento in 1966 was what brought the grape strike and consumer boycott into the national consciousness. In return, the first contracts were beggining to be sined to give better working conditions for low-wage paid farmers, and yet the battle for the civil rights of farmers had just begun. Cesar made a big impact when he went on a fast for twenty-five days to protest the increasing advocacy of violence within the union in 1968. Victory came finally on July 29, 1970, when twenty-six Delano growers formally signed contracts recognizing the ufw and bringing peace to the vineyards. It wasn't until 1973 that the Teamsters signed a jurisdictional agreement that temporarily ended the strife. After 1976 Chavez led the union through a major reorganization, and it gave the farm workers a raise in salary, better working conditions, a end in the exploitation they suffered, justice, and most importantly, the California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which protected all of the rights above.
Learn More About the UFW
This is Cesar Chavez and his little sister getting ready to work in the fields.
Cesar and Fred Ross the man that inspired cesar to create and organize the UFW.
This is the poster (propaganda) the UFW workers used to promote the rights of farmers and the "grape movement".
| Names | Their Contributions | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Martin Luther King Jr. | Martin Luther King contributed Civil Rights movement of 1954-1968. | Assasinated at the age of 39. |
| Harriet Tumbman | She helped bring an end to slavery in her role as an abolitionist and scout in the Union Army during the Civil War. | Died at the age of 93. |
| Du Bois | He was an important black protest leader in the United States that created theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). | Died at the age of 95. |