BORN NEAR YUMA, ARIZONA, ON MARCH 31, 1927, CESAR CHAVEZ EMPLOYED NONVIOLENT MEANS TO BRING ATTENTION TO THE PLIGHT OF FARMWORKERS, AND FORMED BOTH THE NATIONAL FARM WORKERS ASSOCIATION, WHICH LATER BECAME UNITED FARM WORKERS. AS A LABOR LEADER, CHAVEZ LED MARCHES, CALLED FOR BOYCOTTS AND WENT ON SEVERAL HUNGER STRIKES. IT IS BELIEVED THAT CHAVEZ'S HUNGER STRIKES CONTRIBUTED TO HIS DEATH ON APRIL 23, 1993, IN SAN LUIS, ARIZONA. Cesar Chavez

His Childhood As a young boy, César worked on his family’s farm feeding and watering the animals, collecting eggs, and bringing water to the house. César’s parents thought school was important. School was hard for César because the teachers only spoke English and César did not understand English. César thought some teachers were mean because they would punish him when he spoke Spanish.

Family moved around frequently for work. Family lost their home when Cesar was 10 yrs old. César’s family moved to California to find work. They began working on farms picking fruits and vegetables. These were difficult years, sleeping by the side of the road, moving from farm to farm, from harvest to harvest. Cesar would attend 38 different schools until he finally gave up after finishing the 8th grade.

Work hard – paid very little

In 1975, this farm worker family is eating lunch along side the fields in the Santa Maria Valley in the shade of their van because there is no other shade available.

Work Camps

César volunteered to serve in the United States Navy. 17 year-old Cesar Chavez enlisted in the Navy, spending what he would later describe as “the two worst years of my life.”

After two years in the Navy, César returned home and married his girlfriend, Helen. Cesar and Helen moved to San Jose, where their first child Fernando was born. Over the years the family would grow to include 7 children – Fernando, Linda, Paul, Eloise, Sylvia and Anthony.

César and other people from the Community Service Organization are getting ready to try to get the farm workers to vote. Life changed for César when he met a man named Fred Ross. Fred Ross believed that if people worked together they could make their community better. Fred Ross hired César to work for him in the Community Service Organization.

Community Service Organization Chavez rapidly developed as an organizer, rising to become the president of CSO.

National Farm Worker Association César started the National Farm Worker Association to help improve the working conditions of farm workers. African Americans, Filipinos, white Americans, Mexican Americans and Mexicans, and men and women of all backgrounds joined César.

The companies and growers refused to treat the farm workers with respect and dignity. In 1965, the union issue finally exploded. The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a mostly Filipino union, struck when the Delano grape growers cut the pay rates during the harvest. Chavez asked his organization to join the strike, and quickly became its leader.

People of all ages marched to Preisker Park while participating in a demonstration in 1972.

César did not believe in violence. Like Martin Luther King, César wanted to bring change in a nonviolent way. They would do battle non-violently, since they could never match the growers in physical force. They were a poor movement, so they would emphasize their poverty

Grape Boycott “Help the farmworkers by not buying grapes.” At its height, over 13 million Americans supported the Delano grape boycott.

By the late 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California and Florida.

Politics The 1968 fast marked the beginning of Chavez’ emergence on the national political scene. Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy came to Delano to break bread with Cesar at the end of his fast. Chavez responded by committing UFWOC to campaign for Kennedy in the California primary. “Bobby” Kennedy was later killed that same year.