Cesar

One of five children, Cesar Estrada Chavez was born on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona (that his grandfather homesteaded during the 1880’s), on March 31, 1927. His parents, Juana Estrada and Librado Chavez, were Mexican-American migrant workers. Cesar at the age of 10, in 1937, his parents lost their farm that had been in the family for three generations due to the Depression and broken land agreement by a dishonest Anglo. The next year, Chavez’s family became migrant workers, packing their belongings and heading to California in search of work. Most of the time they lived in overcrowded quarters or farm labor camps without running water, bathrooms or electricity. At times when no shelter was available, they would live in their cars, pickup trucks, or sleep in the dirt.

This difficult way of life provided Cesar with little formal education. Cesar did not like school as a child because he spoke only Spanish. Teachers were mostly Anglo, only spoke English, and doubted his intelligence because of his color of his skin. The schools permitted only English to be spoken, Spanish was forbidden. In the schools he had to listen to a lot of racist remarks. He attended at least 36 schools and was only able to complete the eight

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Since his untimely death, he has received the Presidential Medal of freedom by President Clinton in 1994 and the Aquila Aztec, Mexico’s highest award presented to people of Mexican heritage who have made major contributions outside Mexico. In 1948, Cesar married Helena Fabela, daughter of a Zapatista hero of the Mexican Revolution, who he met while working. Chavez became part of the organization and led voters registration drives, helped Chicanos with immigration problems, and organized CSO chapters in other cities. In 1958, became general director of the national CSO.

In 1962, he founded, along with Dolores Huerta the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). ” So in 1962, resigned when the CSO refused to create a farm-workers union.

While his childhood school education was not the best, later in life, education was his passion. Meeting the needs of his family he took a job in a lumberyard and in fruit orchards. In 1972, he conducted another fast for 25 days over the law that banned the right of farm worker to strike or boycott and in 1988 conducted his last and longest fast to call attention of the danger of the pesticides. Unfortunately his mother was unhappy

with his decision, because she wanted her children to receive an education.

Chavez and the UFW gained publicity by mobilizing concerned consumers, college students, peace groups, religious supporters, Hispanic associations, unions, and activists and with assistance of the New Republic and the Kennedys’.

Cesar Chavez did a lot of things to better the lives of Mexican farm workers at a time when no one knew about the poor working standards of migrant farm workers.

Approximate Word count = 1125
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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