Florida Catholic | Cesar Chavez’ life spawns farmworker awareness event

Cesar Chavez’ life spawns farmworker awareness event

LAURA DODSON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 04.11.08

ORLANDO | Cesar Estrada Chavez — farmworker, labor leader and civil rights activist — was born March 31, 1927, in Yuma, Ariz., grandson of Mexican immigrants. The Great Depression and the drought of 1937 took the family business and 100-acre ranch. The family moved to California, joining the migrant community working in the fields.

Chavez attended more than 30 elementary schools as his family traveled from farm to farm picking fruits and vegetables. He quit school after eighth grade to work full time in the California vineyards, and joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 to serve in World War II. He returned to work in the fields and in 1946, he began his lifelong fight for improved conditions at 19 years of age.

By 1958 he was president of the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group, after having been trained and successful as a community organizer. Ten years later, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later called the United Farm Workers). The 1960s and ’70s saw Chavez an active participant and organizer of strikes in California, Texas and throughout the Midwest. Labor unions were formed and in 1968 and again in 1972, Chavez conducted water-only fasts for 25 and 24 days, respectively, to call attention to his efforts to bring about change through nonviolence.

During the 1980s, Chavez was heavily involved in immigration issues and legislation. He was key in getting amnesty provisions included in the 1986 federal immigration act. In 1988, Chavez conducted his 36-day water-only “Fast for Life” to highlight the harmful impact of pesticides upon farmworkers and their children.

Although he had little use for school as a child, education became a passion later in Chavez’ life. “The end of all education should surely be service to others,” he said and in fact, he died with a book in his right hand.

In 1992, he received the Pacem in Terris Freedom Award. The award is named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII calling people of good will to secure peace among the nations. This “Peace on Earth” award was created by the Davenport Catholic Interracial Council of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa. In 1994, he was posthumously awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award for a civilian.

Chavez died April 23, 1993, leaving, along with his family, a legacy of nonviolent advocacy for human freedoms and justice.

ENDNOTE: Information adapted from the United Farm Workers Web site, www.ufw.org.

Return to Diocese of Orlando Front Page

Cesar Chavez’ life spawns farmworker awareness event

Other Stories