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Cesar Chavez was born
Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma, Arizona, where he lived in poverty for the next 11 years, in a farm raising chickens, growing watermelons, and vegetables, alone with parents and 4 siblings whom were Mexicans. The family went broke and therefore in order to survive they became migrant works, where as a kid Cesar worked, and they didn't get paid fairly. This was up to 1939. -
Traveled From Place To Place
Due to the fact that they became migrant workers, they had to move a lot following the California crops, So during the ages of 11 through 15 Cesar went to about 30 different school, where he got made fun of for his Mexican accent, and got threatened to beat him. Because Cesar never stayed for long he didn't get to make any friends. His education pattern was up until 1942. -
Got Married
Cesar was only 21 when he got married to 20 year old Helen, in 1962. Together they had 8 kids, they had enough money for bills and food. They had enough money that they even had a couple hundreds in the bank. -
Got Job At Community Service Organization
Cesar got his first steady job at the Community Service Organization. He was a staff member at the organization, they were a dedicated group protecting the civil rights of the Mexican Americans. They fought discrimination by encouraging Mexican Americans to vote, he made good money that he could put some in the bank to save up. -
Cesar Resigned To His Job So He Could Travel Around
Cesar worked for the organization for quiet sometime, he ended up resigning because he wasn't satisfied, because he knew most Mexican Americans weren't lucky like he was, because some were still migrant worker hoping for a steady job and permanent home just like Cesar had. Therefore Cesar went on to try and form a union. He used his family savings to form a union. -
Union Was Formed
Cesar went back to being in the field in order to be able to talk to the migrant workers about his plan to form a union. He also went back to the poverty he had known as a child due to the fact that his savings were used up. He traveled all over California, within 3 months he covered 15,000 miles, he explained to them the union would fight for fair wages and better working conditions. He mentioned to them that it was to be a nonviolent union in order to win the public over too. -
Boycotts Grapes
With the support of the public, Cesar decided to go along with boycotting grapes, in order to stay away from violence. That meant no one would consume grapes at all. -
Cesar's Fast
Cesar went into fasting in order to reunite the union before using violence. His fasting did help reunite them all, but cause permanent damage to Cesar's health. His fast ended around January, 25 days he went without food. -
Grape Owners Fought Back
There were many problems going on with the union and the grape owners because the grape owners had lost lots of money because, of the boycott. Therefore, the grape owners used pesticides on the strikers. -
Growers Gave In
After many years of hard work, Cesar's union got what they had always wanted. They growers finally gave in and they signed a contract with the farm workers. They accepted the strikers and was the first contract signed with the union. -
Passed Away
Cesar died at the age of 66, in San Luis, Arizona. He died peacefully in his sleep. What he was accomplished was improving wages, and better working conditions for migrant workers, all while using nonviolence.
