The Life and Legacy of Cesar Chavez

Study Notes

Cesar Estrada Chavez, an American civil rights activist and labor leader, was a first-generation American born on March 31, 1927, near Yuma, Arizona.
Chavez's family lost their Arizona homestead in the Great Depression and moved to Northern California in the late 1930s, where they became migrant farm workers.
Chavez dropped out of school after the eighth grade to support his family by working in the fields, and later joined the Navy after World War II to see the world.
After the Navy, Chavez returned to the fields and became a grassroots organizer for a Latino civil rights group, before leaving to form the National Farm Workers Association (now known as the United Farm Workers of America).
The goal of the UFW was to unionize farm workers, but Chavez believed the movement needed to address the broader social and economic issues faced by farm workers, including poverty, lack of access to quality housing, healthcare, and education.
Chavez was committed to using non-violent tactics as a means of negotiation and led the UFW in a historic boycott of California table grapes, which eventually led to a collective bargaining agreement guaranteeing increased pay and the right to unionize.
Chavez was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War and an early supporter of gay rights, which was not a popular position at the time, especially among his own constituency.
Chavez died in his sleep on April 23, 1993, and was survived by his wife Helen, their eight children, and 31 grandchildren.
In 1994, Chavez was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.