César Chávez Biography Project

By Payton Rush

  • César E. Chávez began organizing the National Farm Workers Association

    Chávez founded the NFWA with labor leader Dolores Huerta. The organization is dedicated to the rights of migrant workers, including a minimum wage, insurance, and collective bargaining. P.R

  • Chavez starts official newspaper of the National Farm Workers Association

    Chavez starts El Malcriado: The Voice of the Farm Worker, the official newspaper of the NFWA. N.K.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

  • Grape Strike

    César was asked by Larry Itliong to support a grape stike started by a Filipino farm worker organization called the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. This boosted the the United Farm Workers of America under César's leadersip.
    P.R.

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

  • Filipino grape pickers in Delano, CA. go onstrike for higher wages.

    Filipino grape pickers in Delano, CA. go on strike for higher wages and to protest unfair working conditions. The revolution for farmworker's rights begins. N.K.

  • Chávez’s union joins the strike against grapegrowers.

    Chávez’s union joins the strike against grape
    growers. P.R.

  • 250 Mile March

    The strikers marched 250 miles from Delano to Sacramento to present a list of their demands. Several grape companies agreed to sign a contract with the union. These were the first contracts for American farm workers.
    P.R.

  • United Farm Workers union forms

    The NFWA and AWOC merge, forming the United Farm Workers (UFW) P.R.

  • Senator Kennedy supports boycott

    Senator Robert Kennedy supports the NFWA grape boycott.
    N.K.

  • Founding of National Organization for Women

  • Chávez announces in Los Angeles, CA.plans for a worldwide boycott of California grapes.

    Chávez announces in Los Angeles, CA. plans for a worldwide boycott of California grapes. He travels to European countries to promote the boycott of California grapes and to gather support for farmworker's rights. N.K.

  • Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  • National boycott of California grapes

    Chavez leads a national boycott of California table grape growers, which becomes known as "La Causa." By the end of the boycott in 1970, 17 million Americans supported it, including many political and civil rights leaders including Robert Kennedy.
    P.R.

  • 25 Day Fast

    Chávez goes on a 25-day hunger strike that attracts enormous national attention. The fast reaffirms his movement's belief in non-violence. N.K.

  • Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy

  • Election of President Richard M. Nixon

  • Strike Ends

    The UFW signs a contract with the majority of California table grape growers, ending the strike. Chávez organizes a nationwide lettuce boycott. P.R.

  • Chavez is jailed

    Chavez is jailed for defying a court order againt boycotting.
    N.K.

  • A Bureau of Alcohol Firearms and Tobacco agent reveals that his agency uncovered a plot to assassinate Cesar Chavez.

    A Bureau of Alcohol Firearms and Tobacco (ATF) agent reveals that his agency uncovered a plot to assassinate Cesar Chavez. The agent says his agency gathered evidence that agribusiness magnates in the San Joaquin contracted a leader of the Hell’s Angels to carry out the assassination. But the plot was delayed when the Hell’s Angel was arrested for another murder. N.K.

  • 24 Day Fast

    Chávez undertakes a 24-day fast. P.R.

  • Watergate Scandal

  • Lettuce Growers Strike

    The UFW organizes a lettuce growers strike. P.R.

  • End of Vietnam War

  • California Labor Relations Act

    The California Labor Relations Act goes into effect, allowing farm workers the right to boycott and to collective bargaining. P.R.

  • Chávez leads a 1,000 mile march

    Chávez leads a 1,000 mile march through the Central Valley of California, in order to call attention to the union elections.
    N.K.

  • Chavez ends lettuce and grape boyott.

    Chavez announces that all general lettuce and grape boycotts are ended. N.K.

  • Election of President Ronald Reagan

  • Chavez announces new grape boycot due to pesticides.

    Chavez announces a new grape boycott, due the excessive use of pesticides. N.K.

  • UFW contracts expire and living and working conditions for farmworkers decline.

    UFW contracts expire and living and working conditions for farmworkers decline. A cancer cluster among children emerges in the agricultural community of McFarland, California. Ultimately, 11 children in a 6-block radius are diagnosed with cancer. N.K.
    N.K.

  • Pesticide exposure gathers attention as it causes health hazards to farmworkers.

    Farmworker Juan Chamoya dies after he’s sprayed with pesticides while working in a field in San Diego. Female farmworkers report unexplained miscarriages. Other women farmworkers give birth to severely deformed children or children who develop cancer. N.K.

  • 36 Day "Fast for Life"

    Chávez undertakes a 36-day "Fast for Life" to call attention to the health hazards farm workers and their children face by exposure to pesticides. P.R.
  • Period: to

    Gulf War

  • Collapse of the Soviet Union

  • Election of President William J. Clinton

  • The death of César E. Chávez