Caesar Chavez Day

On March 31st, we celebrate the many farmers and labor workers of America on Cesar Chavez Day. Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona. During this time, the Great Depression had taken the jobs of thousands of Americans, forcing them to live in houses of cardboard and sheets. To make matters worse, a drought known as the Dust Bowl had destroyed the farms of over 16,000 Americans all over the midwest. However, there was one state that wasn’t completely ravaged by these tragic events: California. Americans from all over came to California to work for rich crop growers, forced to live with terrible conditions. These people eventually became known as “Okies,” as many who came to California looking for jobs were from Oklahoma. Over 4.5 million Mexicans also came to California looking for work through a government program known as the Bracero Program, an agreement between the United States and Mexico that allowed poor Mexicans to work in America. These American Okies and Mexicans were paid hardly anything at all, and if any of them complained, they were immediately fired from their jobs. Mexicans in particular were faced with many hardships. The American crop growers forced Mexicans to use short-handled hoes when working the land, causing them to have to continuously bend over. This constant action caused severe back pain. Mexican workers were also not allowed to drink water while they worked, even during one hundred degree summers. Even when they could drink, the crop growers didn’t provide the Mexican or Okie workers with clean running water, and thousands of farm workers were packed into crowded camps full of shacks to live in. Despite these horrible living and working conditions, Mexicans and Okies were afraid to speak up against the crop growers, as this might have led to the loss of their jobs. So they stayed silent, continuing to work the field without complaint, allowing themselves to work tirelessly for virtually nothing at all. That is, until Cesar Chavez came along. Chavez was born into his grandparents’ farm along with his four other siblings. Throughout his childhood he attended 36 different schools between first and eighth grade. During that time, however, his family lost part of their farm to the Dust Bowl and they were forced to travel to California in search of jobs. In 1942, he abandoned his education after his father was injured in an accident and began working in the fields full time. During his farming career he witnessed first hand the unfair and terrible conditions crop growers forced Mexicans to work in, and one day, he decided it was time someone did something about it. In 1953, he joined the Community Service Organization (CSO). Their goal at the time was to get more Mexican people to vote. If Mexicans could vote someone who knew about their situation into the government, then maybe he or she would be able to help Mexican farm workers, they reasoned. The founder of the CSO, Fred Ross, inspired Cesar Chavez during this time and taught him about organizing and leading an organization.

“An organizer is a leader who does not lead but gets behind the people and pushes.” Fred Ross once said, “Organizing is providing people with the opportunity to become aware of their own capabilities and potential.” Fred Ross inspired Chavez so much that he eventually decided to resign from the CSO and start his own organization, the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). Along with co-founder Dolores Huerta, he encouraged many Mexican farm workers to join the cause and fight for fairer wages and working conditions. Eventually, over 1,000 Mexican workers joined the cause. Although many people supported Chavez’s union, many protested against it. Senator Joseph McCarthy even accused Chavez of being a communist and had him searched repeatedly by the FBI. He was sent multiple death threats, one even threatening to bomb his office. However, Chavez never retaliated or lashed out against people who opposed him. He took great influence from Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian lawyer and activist who used peaceful strategies to help India gain independence from Great Britain. He never used violent actions to get what he wanted, and he made it a point to protest peacefully. These strategies assisted in growing his union and convincing more people to join his cause. During his journey to improve the working life of Mexican labor workers, he met the director of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), Larry Itliong. Itliong shared similar goals with Chavez, though his main target was getting Filipino workers better wages and working conditions. Larry Itliong had been planning to stage a massive strike against the rich crop growers of California, and he asked Cesar Cjavez to join him in the boycott. Chavez agreed, and on March 17, 1966, 5,000 labor workers began participating in a nationwide boycott that would last for five years and would eventually become known as the Delano Grape boycott. The initial strike was a 300 mile march to Sacramento. Along the way, Chavez appeared on TV shows and asked people all over the country to join his cause. Over the course of the boycott, people who supported Chavez wouldn’t buy grapes in order to protest. In fact, protestors wouldn’t even go to stores that sold grapes, and this greatly increased economic pressure for California crop growers. If people weren’t buying grapes, the crop growers weren’t going to make any money. Finally, on July 29, 1970, the California crop growers agreed to meet with Cesar Chavez. During this meeting, crop growers signed a contract that gave better wages and working conditions for all Mexican farm workers. However, Chavez knew he could achieve more. He continued to organize strikes across the United States, bringing awareness to the rights of labor workers. Eventually his efforts were rewarded. In 1975, the governor of California, Jerry Brown, signed The Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA), a bill that guaranteed working conditions and fair wages to all agricultural workers. Chavez continued to fight for labor workers until his untimely death on April 23, 1993. Just a year after his death, he was awarded the Presidential of Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Today, schools and public facilities all over the United States celebrate his legacy and the impact he made on America. Thank you Cesar Chavez for everything you did for the United States.