Cesar Chavez Migrant Workers

Between the 1930s and 1950s, the United States government created and implemented labor laws including establishing the minimum wage. However, in every single one of those laws, farm workers were left out. Because of this, farm workers were able to be paid and treated any way their employer wished. This spawned a series of protests that evolved into a labor union, led by a man named Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez’s actions during the labor movement make him deserving of the La Raza award because he achieved equal rights for farm workers without the use of violence, and he united people throughout his protests.

A girth of Cesar Chavez's accomplishments as a union leader and labor organizer came to be in the 60s, as he stressed his union and supporters to use nonviolent resistance as to means to gain better pay, treatment, and working conditions. Through Chavez’s use of juxtaposition, repetition, and pathos , he attempts to convince the audience of the progressive impact of nonviolence and the regressive impact of violence.

Cesar Chavez once explained the horrors of society when he said, “When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering and caring for is family, the whole community of man is sick.” (ufw.org) That means that the whole of humanity is sick and cruel when the man who works the fields all day long to feed the all of the citizens of the entire world can’t even provide for himself. It was not a small amount of people it affected, it was millions, and millions of citizens across the world. Chavez was a large factor in beginning to abolish racism, or also called the Civil Rights Movement.

Cesar E. Chavez was born in 1927, in Arizona. Chavez worked as a migrant farm worker when he was young. He has the experience of working in the scorching hot weather. His family had lived with his grandmother, where he learned all if his values, morals, and beliefs. As Chavez grew older, his father would teach him how to be respectful, and how he should always stand up for what he believes in. His father lost their land and was forced to work as migrant farm workers. After a month, the Chavez family moved away in search of more farms. Cesar rarely went to school, and would never stay at one school for a long time. Cesar dealt with poverty and racisms at a young age. Later, his father had got hurt in an accident and was forced to leave school to support himself and his family (Valbuena1-3).

Cesar Chavez fought for other migrant farmers because he had experienced what they were experiencing and thought he should make a difference when Chavez

Cesar Chavez’s biography shows a lot about the way he was raised and how that taught him his ways and shaped his personality. Cesar was born on March 31, 1927 (Gonzales 22) and was subjected early to intense destitution because his family was one of many migrant, Mexican-American, families (Pao) that rely on the money even if the conditions were terrible for any human. His experience of the farm worker’s life was what drove him to help other workers. “Cesar and his father trudged twelve miles to Yuma looking for a bank loan. They came back covered with dust and empty-handed.”(Terzian 7) He had early experiences with upwards battles and it taught him how to manage them. Another time was captured by James Terzian when he wrote about Chavez’s dad taking care of his fellow workers. “These people are poor, ignorant peasants - campesinos! They’ll sleep anywhere, eat anything take any wage you pay. Why waste your time and money on them, eh?” said the neighbor. Cesar’s dad responds, “They are children of God. They will get shelter and soap for as long as they work on my farm.” (5). He was raised to respect workers and understand that they are people too.

Despite the obstacles and the hardship of his work he never gave up. “Tunnelers find it easier to stay the course because they gravitate toward meaning; they’re more likely to perceive a potential obstacles as a challenge than as a setback; and their psychological and physiological reactions are more robust” Brafman 95). Cesar Chavez was a leader to many farmers and immigrants. He showed and explained to farmers that they deserved more. He organized and led strikes and boycotts. Cesar Chavez committed his whole life on reaching the rights of farmers. His unwavering commitment goes beyond measures. He had a very difficult life that had many obstacles. During his strikes and boycotts Cesar Chavez would get arrested and put down by many people, but that did not stop him for what he believed.

During the 1960’s, many movements rose such as the counterculture movement, the hippie movement, the environmental movement, the SCLC, the SNCC, the Native American movement, Women’s civil rights, United Farm workers, etc. During the 1960’s the American culture would start to change because of these movements. The United Farm Workers movement for example fought for the rights of Mexican americans. Their goal during the 1960’s was to get decent working conditions and more job opportunities. The United Farm Workers movement was led primarily by Dolores Huerta, Gilbert Padilla, and Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez coordinated the protests, and was at the time the President of the United Farm workers movement. Like Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with them. The people who give you their food gives you their heart.” Cesar Chavez and his family moved to California he lived in a poor town called. Sal si puedes which means escape if you can .Then when Cesar Chavez was nineteen he joined the Navy in 1946. For two years but he stopped and joined the CSO in 1952 while working he began to work for latino civil rights. In 1965 the NWFA joined the AWOC in a strike against the grape growers . His bravery was with him the whole time .

Cesar Chavez, an eighth grade dropout, proves to be a man of courage, honesty and honor. This notable union leader was toughened and prepared for the life ahead of him by his early experience as a migrant laborer. Facing injustices at an early age and commencing childhood as a poor farm worker, Cesar Chavez could have been a man of insignificance. Instead, Cesar never failed to be a loyal leader and strive for justice all while being a passionate worker to live out the American dream. His value for hard work and devotion for the less fortunate are attributes that justify why he is seen as the most important Latino leader who was triumphant in keeping the dream alive.

During the years of the Great Depression, Asian and Mexican immigrants had to take up the agricultural jobs in the United States. These immigrants made up the majority of the poor and faced problems with immigration, taxes, and the labor system, along with racial discrimination and a sense of inequality within society (Tejada-Flores, “The United”) Workers were surviving on 90 cents per hour with an addition of 10 cents per basket gathered for working in the fields and worked in poor environments and conditions. There were no toilets in the fields and no electricity or a plumbing system in the metal shacks that they were forced to pay two dollars or more per day for (“Fighting For Farm”). People then created and joined labor unions such as The United Farmworkers Union, which was established by the Mexican-American, Ceasar Chavez, to fight against injustice without violence for all farm workers. Chavez took all his important values, life lessons, and work experience to make a difference in the United States (Tejada-Flores, “Cesar Chavez”). Although he faces opposing opinions, he still managed to successfully lead the Delano grape strike and boycott and even help create the nation as we know it today.

In the mid-1960s thousands of Chicanos, people of Mexican descent, walked off the California grape fields in which they worked in protest of exploitation and poor working conditions. They wanted fair wages, better working conditions, and education for their children. They wanted all the opportunities that were extended to other Americans. Among the disgruntled employees was the soft-spoken César Chávez, who believed that his people’s plight could be resolved through the mechanism of non-violent protests. Chief among these mechanisms were his firm belief in fasting and non-violent strikes. These beliefs were the combined result of his childhood experiences, significant

Cesar Chavez is a well renowned labor leader in American history. César Estrada Chávez was raised by a poor family of migrant farm workers. He had little to no time for school or freetime activities with his peers and experienced many bias racial comments because of his Mexican-American heritage. Despite this, César grew to become a gifted leader who inspired thousands of people to fix their lives and make it better. In the 1960’s César founded the United Farm Workers, an organization that led the members to fight for improved working conditions.

Cesar Chavez was born March 31, 1927, near Yuma, Arizona. He was the son of Librado Chávez and Juana Estrada Chavez. He grew up in Arizona with four siblings; Richard Chavez, Librado Chavez, Rita Chavez Medina, and Vicki Chavez Lastra. His home was a small adobe house on some 40 acres of land. This house was taken by Anglos. Cesar's father offered to clear 80 acres of land to earn the house back. This agreement was broken and the house was sold to another man named Justus Jackson. The Chavez's would get the house back, but not for long.

People’s come from another country to make a new beginning in the United Stated struggle the challenges of being an immigrant and migrant worker. Both share similar challenges such as discrimination, language barrier, salary and citizenship. However, the only difference between them, migrant worker do not stay in one place to live and work, they are consistently all over the place by their jobs. For immigrant are permanently in one place to make a living . Everyday immigrant and migrant worker are forced on to make a living to provide themselves or their family to be stable financially.