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March 31, 1927 - 1938: Lived in Arizona
His family lived on a small farm were they eke out a living by raising chickens, watermelons, and vegetables. -
Born in Yuma, Arizona
He was born César Estrada Chávez. He was the son of Juana Estrada and Librado Chávez. -
1938 - 1939: Worked with his family as migrant workers
César Chávez and his family had no money. So in order to survive César Chávez and his family became migrant workers to pick California crops.
César Chávez spent days sweating in the hot California sun as he stooped to pick peas for less than a penny a pound. They lived with many other workers so they often had to share a bathroom with as many as 50 other families. -
1938 - 1942: School years
César Chávez and his family were migrant workers, so in order to earn enough to pay for Chávez's school they had to follow the California crops and caused César Chávez to attend 30 different schools during the years they were migrant workers. -
Cesar Chavez got married
César Chávez got married with Helen Fabela Chávez when he was 21 years old and later they had a family of 8 children. -
1552 - 1962: Got his first job at Community Service Organization
He was a staff member of the Community Service Organization (CSO) - They worked hard to protect civil rights of Mexican Americans by encouraging them to register to vote. -
1962 - 1965: Worked to gain support
César Chávez quit his job so he had time to travel and work for the union, La Causa, to get more support, by getting more members.
In just 3 months he covered almost 15,000 miles in California - He went out into the fields picking peas and staking grapes with workers and he invited some of them to his home. In 1965 La Causa, which became known as the "United Farm Workers" (UFW), just had a few thousand members. -
He and Helen had 8 children
They were not rich after that. It was hard to feed a family of 10 persons, they just had enough money to pay the bills. They also had some money left in the bank. -
Officially founded the Union
César Chávez founded the union to fight for fair wages and better working conditions without using violence. -
Fall 1965 - 1970: Battle with the grape growers of California
César Chávez took on a powerful enemy. Chávez and La Causa were locked in a battle with the grape growers of California. They decided to join the Filipinos and all grape pickers went on strike. -
Late 1967 - 1970: Boycott of California grapes
César Chávez went on strikes and boycotts in order to get better working conditions for the workers. -
Late 1967 - 1969: Without food for 2 years
All the boycott and strikes didn't work so union members got more desperate and began to talk about using violence, they were frustrated because 95% of the striking workers had been forced to sell their homes and their cars in order to survive. Except for that violence was against the principles of la causa. He heard about the talking and decide to go on fast. After 25 days, Chávez began to eat again which made the union members more determined and more united than ever before. -
CA grape growers gave in
Finally in 1970, the California grape growers gave in and they signed there first union contract with farm workers. After this event, César Chávez kept fighting until all crop growers treated their workers with fairness and respect. -
Died in San Luis, Arizona
When César Chávez died, his birthday, March 31, became "César Chávez Day," a state holiday in California, Colorado, and Texas. Cesar Chavez also became a symbol for all oppressed workers and "La Causa" continued to gain support. He became known as the best Latino American civil rights activist. In 1994 César Chávez won the "Presidential Medal of Freedom".
