Cesar Chavez
By: Esperanza
Cesar Chavez Childhood
• Family lost their home to
the Great Depression
• Cesar went to thirty-eight
different schools
• Quit school after the
eighth grade to support
his family by farming
Who is Cesar Chavez?
• Born on March 31, 1927:
• Died April 23,1993
• Mexican American labor leader
• Activist to many Latino farm workers
• Leader who focused on terrible conditions
endured by migrant farmers
The United Farm Workers Is Born
• Founded by Cesar
Chavez in 1962
• A labor union involved
with other unions
organized by Cesar
Chavez
• Changed Workers
Rights:
– Helped workers get
employment
Why Chavez Began the United
Farm Workers movement?
• Raise wages,
• Improve working
conditions
• Win new collective
bargaining,
• Ensure legal and
legislative protections for
the poorest and most
abused working people in
America.
• Gain more rights for the
farm workers
Additional Activities
• 1962 Cesar founded
the National Farm
Workers Association
• Organized farm
workers to vote and
continue their
education
People who Inspired Cesar Chavez
• St. Francis
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Martin Luther King Jr.
Cesar’s Peaceful Protests
• September 16, 1965, five year Delano
Grape Strike begins
• March 1966, Cesar embarks upon a 340
mile pilgrimage from Delano to
Sacramento to draw attention the suffering
of farm workers
• Cesar begins his longest fast for 36 days
The Fast
“A fast is first and foremost personal. It
is the fast
for purification of my own body, mind,
and soul…”
• Cesar fasted many times.
• In 1968 Cesar went on a water only, 25
day fast.
• He repeated the fast both in 1972 for 24
days; and in 1988 for 36 days.
The Legacy of Cesar Chavez