César Chávez
Cesar Chavez | |
|---|---|
 Chavez in 1974 | |
| Born | César Estrada Chávez March 31, 1927 |
| Died | April 23, 1993 (aged 66) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations |
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| Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) |
| Children | 12 |
| Parents |
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Cesar Chavez (born César Estrada Chávez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was a Native Mexican American farmworker, labor leader and civil rights activist. Chávez started the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) along with Dolores Huerta. He wanted equal rights for Native Hispanic Americans working in the United States. This union became the United Farm Workers.
Early life
[change | change source]Chávez was born near Yuma, Arizona and went to over 37 schools.[1] He graduated from the eighth grade.[1] He did most of his organizing in California, especially near Bakersfield. Fred Ross taught him to lead unions. Fred Ross was a student of Saul Alinsky.
Activism
[change | change source]In 1965, Chávez and the NFWA started a strike for grape-pickers in California. At the same time, he asked Americans to boycott grapes from California. In 1970, the migrant workers won their fight for better pay.
He kept working against unfair labor rules. He stopped eating in protests three times because of low pay and bad working conditions. When he died, he was leading another grape boycott to stop the use of pesticides.
Legacy
[change | change source]Chávez is respected in California and other states. In 2000, California's state legislature started a holiday to honor him. The holiday is on March 31, Chávez's birthday. This is the first time that a US public holiday honored a Native Hispanic/Latino-American or a union leader. Many cities have streets or places named for him. These cities include San Francisco, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Austin, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, Milwaukee, and Salt Lake City. In 1998 he was inducted into the Hall of Honor by the United States Department of Labor.[2]
Sexual abuse accusations
[change | change source]On March 17, 2026, accusations of sexual abuse against Chavez led United Farm Workers to cancel their tribute to Chavez just weeks before the annual event.[3] UFW said that Chavez was accused of sexually abusing minors.[4] The following day, The New York Times published an investigation into Chavez, reporting that he had sexually abused two young girls many times between 1972 and 1977. In addition, the Times reported that Dolores Huerta had been raped by Chavez many times, in incidents which led to pregnancies and to Huerta having the children raised by others.[5]
References
[change | change source]- 1 2 Carole Marsh, Cesar Chavez : Farm worker with vision (Peachtree City, GA:] Gallopade International, 2002), pp. 1-4
- ↑ "Hall of Honor Inductee César Chávez". U.S. Department of Labor. 2014. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
- ↑ "'Profoundly shocking' allegations against Cesar Chavez spark soul-searching in movement". Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-17. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ↑ Singh, Maanvi (2026-03-17). "United Farm Workers union cancels Cesar Chavez events over abuse allegations". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ↑ Fernandez, Manny; Hurtes, Sarah (March 18, 2026). "Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
Other websites
[change | change source]
- "The Story of Cesar Chavez" Archived 2016-02-07 at the Wayback Machine, United Farmworker's official biography of Chavez.
- César E. Chávez Chronology Archived 2010-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, County of Los Angeles Public Library.
- Five Part Series on Cesar Chavez Archived 2017-02-23 at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times, Kids' Reading Room Classic, October 2000.
- "The study of history demands nuanced thinking", Miriam Pawel Archived 2011-12-06 at the Wayback Machine from the Austin American-Statesman, 2009/7/17. A caution that histories of Chavez and the UFW should not be hagiography, nor be suppressed, but taught "wiktionary:warts and all"
- The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworker's Struggle Archived 2013-01-13 at Archive.today, PBS Documentary.
- Farmworker Movement Documentation Project Archived 2009-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
- New York Times obituary, April 24, 1993
- Walter P. Reuther Library – President Clinton presents Helen Chavez with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1994
