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Honoring Cesar E. Chavez
Celebrate our region’s Hispanic heritage this month as we count down to Cesar E. Chavez Day
March 31, 2006 - Glendale is a community with a rich and vibrant heritage. Founded on early ranching and farming roots, the city has grown over the years to become one of the most culturally diverse cities in the Valley.
Glendale owes much of its heritage to early Hispanic settlers as well as Japanese and Russian families who moved to Glendale from California to cultivate the region’s rich soil.
The city reflects on its powerful past this month in celebration of Cesar E. Chavez Day, which is recognized on March 31, 2006. |
A Valued Leader and Hero
A Latino farm worker and labor leader, Cesar Estrada Chavez is also recognized for playing a vital role in the civil rights movement.
An advocate for nonviolent social change, Chavez was born on March 31, 1927, near his family's farm in Yuma, Ariz. After losing their farm in the Great Depression, the Chavez family became migrant farm workers. Cesar continued to migrate across the southwest throughout his life, and over the years, he became more and more exposed to the hardships and injustices farm workers face.
Chavez joined the U.S. Navy in 1946 and served in the Western Pacific after World War II. He then married Helen Fabela, also a farm laborer, and the couple settled in San Jose, Calif. They raised eight children.
His life as a community leader began in 1952 when he joined the Community Service Organization (CSO), a prominent Latino civil rights group. While with the CSO, he coordinated voter registration drives and conducted campaigns against racial and economic discrimination primarily in urban areas. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he served as CSO's national director.
In 1962, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. He led this important union for almost three decades, working toward dignity, respect, fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and humane living conditions, as well as countless other rights and protections for the nation’s farm workers. His union's efforts brought about the passage of the groundbreaking 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act to protect farm workers, and it remains the only law in the nation that protects the farm workers' right to unionize.
Chavez died in 1993, in San Luis, Ariz., just miles from his birthplace. His family and friends have established the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation to educate people about the life and work of this great American civil rights leader. Click here to learn more about the foundation by visiting their home page.
Where You Can Celebrate in Glendale
The Glendale Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Cesar E. Chavez Breakfast from 7:30-9:30 a.m. on Friday, March 31, at the Glendale Civic Center Ballroom, 5750 W. Glenn Drive. The event will feature guest speaker Art Othon, Community and Development Director for Arizona Public Service Company. Tickets are $25 per person or $250 per table. For more information, call the Glendale Chamber of Commerce hotline at (623) 566-7493. |
