Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez
1927-1993
Cesar Chavez was a little boy when the Great Depression broke out in the United States. This was a very delicate time in the lives of all people who lived in the USA.

Cesar Chavez’s father lost their farm when Cesar was only ten years old. His family like other people became migrant farm workers. When he was thirteen he quit school. And at age sixteen Cesar Chavez got arrested because he was sitting on a white only section seat. It was twelve years before Rosa Park’s bus protest.

At age 17 Cesar Chavez joined the Navy and served in the Pacific during World War Two. After the war Cesar Chavez and his family moved to California to work as laborers on a vineyard. Unhappy with the working conditions, he got involved with organizing farm labors for everybody. He wanted to improve the working conditions, wages, and getting them to vote and gain citizenship.

By the mid 1960’s, Cesar Chavez was nationally known as the organizer of the grape and lettuce boycotts. He often fasted for weeks in support of his causes. Cesar Chavez boycotted fields that people worked on picking grapes, so if they didn’t pick up they could not sell and make money out of them.

He did not eat for 36 days in 1988 because he was protesting the use of pesticides that were harmful to farm workers. Cesar Chavez was awarded in 1993 the Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Cesar Chavez is my hero because he helped a lot of Latin Americans that worked in the field. I appreciate what he has done for my people, negotiating better wages, the right to vote and gaining citizenship.