CESAR CHAVEZ (1927 – 1993)

By Fred Blanco

Growing up in Arizona near Yuma’s Gila Valley River, César and his family knew poverty but not destitution. César’s parents, Librado and Juana, instilled many key values in their children, including that of maintaining a strong family core. Through everything their family survived. Their family stayed together through thick and thin.  A devout Catholic, César’s mother was known for her many proverbs or dichos, which she used to emphasize the importance of charity, respect for others, and nonviolence. César would later use these sayings in his own down-to-earth style: “God gave you senses and a mind and a tongue, so that you can get out of anything.” And, “He who holds the cow being killed sins as much as he who kills her.”  Juana Chávez was an uneducated woman but very wise. César learned from her the value of simple and direct wisdom.

With the advent of the Great Depression, the family eventually lost everything.  As conditions became worse they were forced to join the masses and head west in search of migrant farm work in California. The Chávez property was sold at a public auction and eventually fell into the hands of the company that would later become part of Bruce Church, Inc., a giant vegetable company. As César would say, “If we’d stayed there, possibly I would have been a grower….God writes in exceedingly crooked lines.”

After completing the eigth grade in Brawley, California, César was forced to leave school and work full-time to help support the family after his father suffered a serious automobile accident. He later committed himself to self-education, reading everything he could find, including the writings of Gandhi and St. Francis of Assisi.

In 1952 Chávez joined the Community Service Organization (CSO), a community redevelopment group whose aim was to find ways to eradicate poverty in Latino neighborhoods. Here is where he learned to organize and strategize. Later he founded The United Farm Workers (UFW). Rather than a traditional union, he envisioned a social movement – a crusade that he later called “ El Movimiento” (The Movement) – that would inspire farm workers to organize themselves and change their lives. And though many people liked saying that it was his union, he was committed to empowering a people to take charge of their lives and provide a union for themselves that they could very easily say was their own.

In his crusade for equality for farmworkers, Chávez became spokesperson for the equal rights of every man. As the union grew, so did his popularity as a new civil rights leader. Spreading his message of peace and equality during the turbulence of the 1960s brought hope to rich and poor people alike. He was able to reach people in the fields, union meeting halls and college campuses everywhere. As people watched him engage in pilgrimages and fasts, they were reminded of the importance of patience and nonviolence. The urgency of what needed to be accomplished never tempted him to falter, or to resort to what was easier.

RECOMMENDED READING

Drake, Susan Samuels. Fields of Courage: Remembering César Chávez And the People Whose labor Feeds Us. Capitola, California: Many Names Press, 1999.

Ferris, Susan, Sandoval, Ricardo, and Hembree, Diana. The Fight in the Fields: César Chávez and the Farmworkers Movement.  New York: Harcourt, 1997.

Griswold Del Castillo, Richard and Garcia, Richard A. César Chávez: A Triumph of Spirit. Norman, Oklahoma:University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.

Jensen, Richard J. and Hammerback, John C., editors. The Words of César Chávez. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press, 2002.

Ross, Fred.Conquering Goliath: César Chávez at the Beginning. Keene, California: El Taller Grafico Press/ United Farm Workers, 1989.

FRED BLANCO

A native of Southern California and active in the Los Angeles theatre community for over fifteen years, Fred Blanco studied theatre at Cal State University-Northridge and has appeared in various roles on stage and screen. He has performed for a variety of theatre companies in California, such as the national touring troupe Traveling Lantern Theatre Company, and the acclaimed guerilla theatre troupe The Bad Puppets. In addition, he has worked with a number of organizations in Los Angeles providing theatre education to diverse audiences, such as The L.A. Unified School District, The L.A. County Anti-Smoking Campaign, and L.A. County Juvenile Halls. In 2007 Blanco portrayed César Chávez at the Maryland Humanities Council Chautauqua. In addition to his portrayal of Mr. Chávez, Blanco developed a theatrical show on the life of the famed civil rights leader entitled The Stories of César Chávez, bringing to life not only Chávez but various other characters from the dynamic farmworkers movement. His one man show has been featured at universities and various theatres throughout the country, including a recent engagement in London, Canada.

QUOTES

       Humanity is our belief.”

TIMELINE

1927                Born on family farm outside Yuma, Arizona

1937                Family lost farm and forced to become migrant farm workers

1942                Quit school after the eighth grade and worked in fields fulltime to

                        help support family

1944                Joined U.S. Navy during World War II; before shipping out,

                        was arrested in a segregated Delano, California movie theatre for sitting

                         in “whites only” section

1948                Married Helen Fabela, eventually having eight children together

1952                Joined Community Service Organization (CSO), a community

                        redevelopment organization

1962                Established National Farmworkers Association and held its

                        first convention

1966                Along with band of strikers, marched to Sacramento, California,

                        to draw national attention to the plight of the farm workers;

                        NFWA became known as United Farmworkers

1967                UFW began boycott of all California table grapes

1968                Fasted for 25 days to rededicate the movement to nonviolence

1970                Most California table-grape growers finally signed UFW contracts

1975                California adopted Agricultural Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing rights for farm workers

1982                California Governor George Deukmejian reduced Agricultural Labor Relations Board’s budget and closed many of its offices, which made it hard for farm workers to file complaints

1988                Fasted for 36 days to protest use of pesticides on farms

1993                Died peacefully in his sleep in San Luis, Arizona