美国人物生平 Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez

   Born on March 31, 1927, Cesar Chavez was a Mexican American labor activist and leader of the United Farm Workers. During the 20^th century he was a leading voice for migrant farm workers (people who move from place to place in order to find work). His tireless leadership focused national attention on these laborers’ terrible working conditions, which eventually led to improvements. Cesar Chavez died on April 23, 1993.

1)      Cesar Chavez Gains Grounds for Farmers

  Cesar Chavez is best known for his efforts to gain better working conditions for the thousands of workers who labored on farms for low wages and under severe conditions. Chavez and his United Farm Workers union battled California grape growers by holding nonviolent protests. Chavez got the idea for nonviolent actions from Martin Luther King Jr., who was a leader in the struggle for civil rights for African Americans. Chavez also went on hunger strikes, protesting by refusing to eat for long periods of time. In 1968 he fasted for 25 days in support of the UFW commitment to non-violence. He was inspired to fast by M.K. Gandhi of India.

  Because of Chavez’s peaceful tactics and public support for the union, he and the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee were able to negotiate contracts for higher wages and better treatment of agricultural workers with California grape producers.

   Like his protests, Cesar Chavez died peacefully. In 1993, he died in his sleep in san Luis, Arizona, where he had gone to testify against vegetable growers. An estimated 50000 mourners attended his funeral service. In recognition of Chavezs importance as a leader of the Mexican American community and a champion of social justice, President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor, to his widow, Helen Chavez, in 1994.

2，Cesar Chavez Grows Up

Cesar Chavez was born in North Gila Valley, near Yuma, Arizona. He was one of six children. His parents owned a ranch and a small grocery store, but during the Great Depression in the 1930s they lost everything. In order to survive, Cesar Chavez and his family became migrant farm workers, travelling around California to find work. It was hard work, and they did not live in the same place for long. The Chavez family would pick peas and lettuce in the winter, cherries and beans in the spring, corn and grapes in the summer, and cotton in the fall. What kind of a life was for Cesar’s family?

Working conditions for migrant workers were harsh and often unsafe. Their wages were low, and it was difficult to support a family. Cesar’s family frequently did not have access to basic needs such as clean water or toilets. Because a large number of migrant workers were Mexican American, they also often faced prejudice, and their children had to skip school to earn wages to help support the family.

Cesar Chavez attended about 30 schools in California as his family moved from place to place to find work. After the eighth grade Cesar had to quit school to support his ailing parents.

Cesar’s life growing up had a big impact on what he did with the rest of his life. In 1948, he married a woman who also was from a family of migrant farm workers. By 1959, the couple had eight children, and Chavez, who had little education and training, was forced to return to farm work. As before, life in the field was harsh. Chavez decides he had to do something about it. He started to unite farm workers into a labor union. As a group they would try to get high wages and better working conditions.

3, Cesar Chavez Organizes Agricultural Workers

Cesar Chavez spent most of his life working in farms in California, where pay was low and comforts were few. He wanted to improve the situation, so in the 1950s, he started organizing agricultural workers into a labor union that would demand higher pay and better working conditions from their employers. In 1962, Chavez and fellow organizer Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association.

In1965, Chavez and Huerta agreed to honor a walkout by farm workers in Delano, California, who were in another union, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. Workers in the NFWA were asked not to work for the Delano grape growers. This strike was called a huelga in Spanish. In 1966, the National Farm workers Association joined with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, later renamed the United Farm Workers.

The strike that started in1965 lasted for five years and inspired a nationwide boycott of California grapes that was supported throughout the country. There was another grape boycott in the mid-70s, which forced growers to support the 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act-a collective bargaining law for farm workers. Under the leadership of Chavez and Huerta, the UFWOC fought grape producers for better working conditions through nonviolent tactics such as protest marches, strikes, and boycotts. These tactics were usually successful and ended with the signing of bargaining agreements between the farm workers and the growers.