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Cesar Chavez Organized the First Successful Farm Workers Union in America
Written by Robert Brumfield
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VOICE ONE:
I’m Nicole Nichols.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Program, People in America. Today we tell about one of the great labor activists, Cesar Chavez. He organized the first successful farm workers union in American history.
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VOICE ONE:
Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez was born on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona in nineteen twenty-seven. In the late nineteenth century, Cesario Chavez, Cesar’s grandfather, had started the Chavez family farm after escaping slavery on a Mexican farm. Cesar Chavez spent his earliest years on this farm. When he was ten years old, however, the economic conditions of the Great Depression forced his parents to give up the family farm. He then became a migrant farm worker along with the rest of his family.
The Chavez family joined thousands of other farm workers who traveled around the state of California to harvest crops for farm owners. They traveled from place to place to harvest grapes, lettuce, beets and many other crops. They worked very hard and received little pay. These migrant workers had no permanent homes. They lived in dirty, crowded camps. They had no bathrooms, electricity or running water. Like the Chavez family, most of them came from Mexico.
VOICE TWO:
Because his family traveled from place to place, Cesar Chavez attended more than thirty schools as a child. He learned to read and write from his grandmother. Mama Tella also taught him about the Catholic religion. Religion later became an important tool for Mister Chavez. He used religion to organize Mexican farm workers who were Catholic.
Cesar’s mother, Juana, taught him much about the importance of leading a non-violent life. His mother was one of the greatest influences on his use of non-violent methods to organize farm workers. His other influences were the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi and American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior.
Mister Chavez said his real education began when he met the Catholic leader Father Donald McDonnell. Cesar Chavez learned about the economics of farm workers from the priest. He also learned about Gandhi’s nonviolent political actions as well as those of other great nonviolent leaders throughout history.
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen forty-eight, Mister Chavez married Helena Fabela whom he met while working in the grape fields in central California. They settled in Sal Si Puedes. Later, while Mister Chavez worked for little or no money to organize farm workers, his wife harvested crops. In order to support their eight children, she worked under the same bad conditions that Mister Chavez was fighting against.
There were other important influences in his life. In nineteen fifty-two, Mister Chavez met Fred Ross, an organizer with a workers’ rights group called the Community Service Organization. Mister Chavez called Mister Ross the best organizer he ever met. Mister Ross explained how poor people could build power. Mister Chavez agreed to work for the Community Service Organization.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Chavez worked for the organization for about ten years. During that time, he helped more than five hundred thousand Latino citizens to vote. He also gained old-age retirement money for fifty thousand Mexican immigrants. He served as the organization’s national director.
However, in nineteen sixty-two, he left the organization. He wanted to do more to help farm workers receive higher pay and better working conditions. He left his well paid job to start organizing farm workers into a union.
Mister Chavez’s work affected many people. For example, the father of Mexican-American musician Zack de la Rocha spent time working as an art director for Mister Chavez. Much of the political music of de la Rocha’s group, Rage Against the Machine, was about workers’ rights, like this song, “Bomb Track.”
