Cesar Chavez

Luis Solano
Hilary Dietz
Introduction to Humanities DATE \@ "MMMM d, y" November 23, 2014

"It's amazing that people can get so excited about a rocket launched to the moon and not be concerned with the smog , oil spills , the devastation of the environment with pesticides , hunger and disease ... “ -Cesar Chavez

Cesar Estrada Chavez, son of farm workers was born in Yuma, Arizona. At young age his parents who owned a farm lost it all during the great depression and were forced to migrate to the Central Valley in California. When they moved to California, his parents started working as migrant farm workers (moved to work in different cities due to the fruit or vegetable season). While attending elementary, he was discriminated because his family was constantly moving due to the farm worker life his parents had. Right after he completed Jr. High School, he decided to become a full time farm worker to help out his parents in the fields because of the struggles his family had because of the low pay from a hard days work. Right after his 18th birthday, he enrolled in the Navy and served during the WW II. After coming back to his home In California, he dedicated his life to improving the working conditions, better the farm workers pay and better treatment on the working ethics.

Cesar Estrada Chavez."The Biography.com website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/cesar-chavez-9245781 [Accessed 20 Nov 2014]. Cesar Chavez as a migrant working son he was constantly moving from place to place during the different farming season, often discriminated in school because he spoke Spanish and was constantly migrating. instead of attending High
School like any other classmate, he started working in the farm fields at the age of 13, while working in the farm industry, he was mistreated, abused, underpaid and lived in poor living conditions. The farming (Field work) is one of the most unpleasant jobs to have since the people are constantly working long hours of underpaid and sometimes not paid over time, backbreaking posture for long hours of work, breathing toxic chemicals and a lot of dust, I could relate to his experience, since I have also worked on the fields when I was in High School, the heat of the sun was the most unpleasant companion during the work day. Cesar Chavez later organized a union “The National Farmworkers Association” in 1962. He then led non violent strikes, marches and boycotts to better the farm working conditions and to achieve change. In 1965, he's union joined with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to the first strike against the California Grape growers he believed that a change needed to happen for all the farm workers to be treated with respect, dignity and a fair pay for a hard day’s work. He also practiced hunger strikes which lasted weeks, as an activist for the people he looked for a way to make sure people from all over the United States noticed the struggle of the every day farm worker and the mistreatment of their field working conditions.
Levy, J. E., Chavez, C., Ross, F., & Levy, J. M. (2007). Cesar Chavez : Autobiography of La Causa. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. In 1962 when Cesar Chavez formed the union, he took the faithful step to create change in his community and all across the states. Many doubted him because of his background of being a dark skin farm worker, quiet and poorly educated. He had one vision and a strong commitment to seek change, he was tired of injustice and wrongful treatment of all farm workers, he had the courage to stand up and be heard from across the room. La Causa (The Cause) he had a goal, a dream in which he lie deep with the movement and himself. His roots of living within the farmworker family and the people surrounding him made his fight stronger and with a cause in mind to change his people’s suffering and mistreatment. These field workers were being paid and average of $1.35 an hour to work on the grape fields, Chavez knew this was injustice to the hard working families that depended on that type of work in order to feed and raise a family. July 30, 1970, after nearly a century of marching, boycotting, and strikes, The San Francisco Chronicle News announces that "Details on wages, working conditions, health and welfare pro- grams, and unemployment insurance will be worked out in supplemental agreements for the various crops.” for the farm workers this meant that things were changing, that the long waited change was coming.
Cesar Chavez Foundation(2012) The Cesar Chavez Foundation http://www.ce sarechavezfoundation.org/_page.php?code=014001000000000&page_ttl=History+%26amp%3B+Accomplishments&kind=1 Throughout his life’s effort, struggles, hunger and courage, Cesar Chavez got the attention from the government to change/implement the laws to protect the farmworkers and their families. Before him, many had attempted to make a change, but failed because of different difficulties along the road. Dolores Huerta was a woman of courage that stood by his side fighting the long battle of change, together they strategized and studied long hours to make that change happen. Cesar Chavez experienced defeats but also historic victories that helped shaped his long dream of righteousness. The United Farmworkers achieved; * Collective bargains agreements between the wrongers and the farmworkers union. * Union contracts requiring rest periods, clean drinking water, the use of sanitized toilets in the fields, hand washing facilities, the banning of discrimination and sexual harassment. * Requiring appropriate clothing to protect against the pesticide exposure in the fields. * The prohibition of pesticide use while working on the fields. * The establishment of use of comprehensive health benefits for farm workers and their families.
These were some of the many accomplishments that his legacy as a community organizer for the farm workers accomplished. His battle can still be heard along the marches for social change in the latino communities.

"Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerful, and have many allies in high levels . We are poor . Our allies are few; but we have something that the rich do not possess. We have our bodies and our spirits and the justice of our cause is our weapon.” Cesar Chavez.
Sundem, G. (1969, July 4). TIME Magazine --Cesar Chavez. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from https://books.google.com/books?id=so_hBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP2&dq=time+magazine+july+4+1969

July 4th, 1969 Cesar Chavez was featured in the cover of Time magazine “THE GRAPES OF WRATH, 1969 MEXICAN-AMERICANS ON THE MARCH”
“La Causa” was the name given to the strike (grape strike) which represented the protests and the struggles of California grape pickers and the aspirations of the Nations minority in general. Chavez’s whole life cause “La Causa” was his life long goal to simbolize the quest for Mexican Americans to be acknowledge and to have a full role in the US society. In the short run, Cesar Chavez aspirations was to win the fight with the grape growers where the problems seemed to be severe and at times he needed to win in order for the farm workers to be respected and treated with dignity and respect towards their hard work. In the long run, if he succeeded he wanted to expand the movement beyond the grape fields into the entire Mexican community.
During “La Causa” man supermarkets picked sides, some stood by the consumers by selling imported grapes from other countries, while others stood by La Causa by not selling grapes at all. In Capital Hill, restaurants stopped offering grapes for months because of “La Causa” the movement in California, it made an impact in the country and as a result, wages improved, working conditions improved.

Citations

Cesar Chavez Foundation(2012) The Cesar Chavez Foundation Retrieved Dec. 09, 2014 from: http://www.cesarechavezfoundation.org/_page.php?code=014001000000000&page_ttl=History+%26amp%3B+Accomplishments&kind=1

Cesar Estrada Chavez.(n.d.)“The Biography.com Retrieved Dec. 12, 2014 from: http://www.biography.com/people/cesar-chavez-9245781 [Accessed 20 Nov 2014]

Levy, J. E., Chavez, C., Ross, F., & Levy, J. M. (2007). Cesar Chavez : Autobiography of La Causa. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Sundem, G. (1969, July 4). TIME Magazine --Cesar Chavez. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from https://books.google.com/books?id=so_hBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP2&dq=time+magazine+july+4+1969