They say heroes are born, but real heroes are made. Cesar E. Chavez is a good example of a hero who was not born, but made. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927. He was born on a farm, sadly his family lost their home when he was 10 years old. After that tragedy his family moved to California to be migrant workers. Cesar Chavez helped farm workers obtain equality with all his movements and work strikes. By using his leadership, care, and dedication, Cesar Chavez would soon become a leader in an organization to help farm workers obtain better working conditions and more money for them.
Cesar Chavez showed many examples of dedication throughout life. He showed his dedication when, "he set high goals to help improve the pay, treatment and working environment for farm workers. In 1962 Chavez left his job with the CSO and created the National Farm Workers Association"(Skallerup). Cesar knew that he needed to help the farm workers so he left his job with the CSO to create the "United Farm Workers". Farm workers were forced to work in fields full of pesticides. Cesar didn't like seeing people get sick and die because of pesticides. He showed his dedication when "Chavez and his organizers successfully led a five-year strike against growers of table and wine grapes in the area of Delano, California" (Skallerup). Chavez saw that workers weren't being treated with "dignity and respect". So he and his helpers created a strike where the inequality was taking place. Even if it took five years to achieve to goal for the grape pickers Chavez stayed with them the whole time. His dedication showed again when, over the next twenty years, Cesar Chavez led many other strikes against producers of fruits and vegetables who did not treat their workers with dignity and respect. By 1980, over 10,000 farm workers were receiving higher pay, health coverage and other benefits, thanks to contracts under the UFW (Skallerup). Chavez spent twenty plus years helping farm workers obtain equality. His dedication paid off because farm workers were treated with respect, dignity, and equally just like he wanted. In the end, Cesar's dedication would lead to farm workers being treated equally.
Cesar shows his care for the farm workers throughout his life; Cesar worked towards better conditions for workers who are exposed to pesticides and other poisons of modern day farming. In 1988, Cesar did a thirty-six day "Fast for Life" to protect workers and their children (Skallerup). He wanted to help the families that were being exposed to these nasty chemicals, so he did a "thirty day 'Fast for Life' ". This was because Cesar didn't like seeing people getting sick due to something that could be fixed. He fixed it by organizing "fasts" and "strikes" to get the fields cleaned with no chemicals. Another act of care is when "Chavez and his wife taught migrant workers to read and to write so they could pass the test to gain U.S. citizenship" (Skallerup). Chavez and his wife helped migrant workers to pass the test to be citizens of the U.S. He wanted to see immigrants with the same rights and opportunities as anyone else. Cesar Chavez cared about the lives of other people, and this is one way he showed it. To conclude, Cesar Chavez was a very caring man and shows it by helping migrant workers to obtain equality.
Chavez showed his leadership in many cases and causes the workers to resist toward the discrimination. For example: "Under the charismatic leadership of Chavez, striking farm worker families united with diverse groups of community activists, labor unions, Mexican-American organizations, student demonstrators, religious supporters, consumer groups, average housewives, antiwar protesters, sympathetic politicians, and African-American allies to build an international boycott to force concessions from agribusiness." (Rose). This shows that Cesar Chavez was such a good leader that his followers were doing all the strikes they possibly could. They united closer together to get the job done. This was all possible because Cesar would give superior speeches that would motivate everyone listening to his speeches. His incredible speeches gave them hope and power to strike all throughout town. Another example of his great leadership is when: "Faced with immense resistance from corporate agriculture, Chavez reinforced the boycott, undertook national speaking tours, and organized major protests and picketing across the country." (Rose). Cesar Chavez was great at finding new ways to rebel against the discrimination of the farm owners. He used his voice and mind to come up with all the ideas to get what he had always wanted; equality. Using his great speeches, he created campaigns and boycotts to "get back" at the racist farm owners, who didn't give good pay and had their fields full of pesticides. His leadership was so immensely good that all his followers would follow his ideas to obtain equality. In the end, they did obtain equality by Cesar Chavez great leadership skills, which showed in his speeches and campaigns.
To conclude, Cesar Chavez used his leadership, care and, his dedication to become an organizer of strikes and campaigns which would help many farm workers obtain better pay and better working conditions. He did all this so he could see farm workers the way he wished he could see himself. Cesar E. Chavez would pass away on April 23, 1993 in his sleep, "Over 50,000 people attended his funeral" ( Skallerup). This would mark the end of a man's life but the beginning of a "legend" that will be told to all Mexicans in the world. Many including myself believe that Cesar E. Chavez is a real hero.
Works Cited
Ribera, Feliciano. "Chavez, Cesar Estrada." World Book Advanced. 2013. World Book Advanced. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.
Rose, Margaret. "Cesar Estrada Chavez." American National Biography, 2010. EBSCO Biography Reference Center. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.
Skallerup, Nellie Eve. "Chavez, Cesar 'Yes It Can Be Done.'" World and I : Academic OneFile, 2013. Gale Biography in Context. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.
"The Story of Cesar Chavez." United Farm Workers. United Farm Workers, 2009. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.
Page created on 5/14/2013 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 5/14/2013 12:00:00 AM
