Biography of Cesar Chaves
Biography of Cesar Chaves
Cesar Chaves was born and raised in Arizona’s North Gila Valley on March 31, 1927. Cesar was the second child of six; his parents were Junana and Librado. His family moved around a lot because of the depression and they were very poor. Cesar received a poor education in Valley School. In 1948 he married Helen Fabela and they conceived six children. After a few years of working at CSO (Community Service Organization) the group wanted to help migrant farmers have a better community to live in. So, in 1959 Cesar left CSO and received twelve hundred dollars cash, which he then started and organization group called The National Farm Workers Association. The idea of the organization was to help the migrants get organized. In 1946 Cesar got arrested for sitting in a reserved seat for whites. When he was arrested, it made him want to protest. Through this, an Indian Mahatma Gandhi influenced him because Cesar had read a book about him. From this book, he learned about the peacemakers and that helped him to be more involved with the migrants. In 1962 he got Dilores Heuerta over the NFWA, which she was the first woman spokesperson of the union. He lead many protests, one for the grape pickers, so they would be paid more an hour. In 1966 he also led a two hundred and fifty-mile walk for protest. He got the growers to agree to help the pickers. Cesar’s fasting impacted the country; he didn’t want poor pay and working conditions for the farmers. Cesar started another protest in 1986; it was against toxic pesticides on grapes. His achievements affected the grape pickers and the migrants a great deal. Cesar passed in 1993 after living a long and eventful life.