Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez was born in 1927 in Arizona. His family had come from Mexico. His father had a small store. His grandfather had a farm. But the store started to lose money. Chavez’s father had to sell it. They moved to his grandfather’s farm. They worked hard, but they needed money to pay taxes on the farm. If they could not pay, they would lose the farm.

Chavez’s father became a migrant farm worker. Migrant farm workers move from farm to farm. They plant and pick crops. They work hard. The jobs do not last long. They are paid very little. Even though Chavez’s father worked hard, he could not earn enough money to save the farm. They became homeless. Then all of them—even the children—had to work in the fields.

As migrant workers, they followed the crops. At some farms, they stayed in shacks that had no running water or electricity. At other farms, they lived in a tent. Once Chavez’s family picked grapes. But when the job was done, the farmer would not pay them! There was nothing they could do. They went to the next farm.

When Chavez grew up, he wanted to change things for migrant workers. He formed the United Farm Workers (UFW). This union wanted better pay and housing for farm workers. Chavez fasted. He would not eat. This made the TV and newspapers tell his story. People were shocked when they heard about the problems of migrant workers. They made the largest growers sign contracts with the UFW. Then Chavez started to eat again.

Another time he stopped eating because of pesticides. They were sprayed on crops. They were harming farm workers. He did not eat until the farmers stopped using the bad chemicals.