Caesar Chavez

No one better caught the soul of the migrants moving into California during the 1930s than John Steinbeck:

"And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange."

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy,” he wrote “growing heavy for the vintage."

Caesar Chavez was one of those souls. In 1938, at the height of the Great Depression, Chavez and his family packed their belongings and headed to California in search of work. In California, the Chavez family became part of the migrant community, traveling from farm to farm to pick fruits and vegetables during the harvest. It was a lesson that Chavez learned well. After years of tough labor, Chavez joined a group called the Community Service Organization (CSO) and traveled throughout California, making speeches in support of workers' rights. That was his first step in becoming the most vocal advocate for Farmer’s rights in the world.

Four years later, Chavez left CSO to form what would become the United Farm Workers unions. Under the auspices of the UFW, Chavez struck against grape farmers for better wages
According to the University of California, “From the beginning, the UFW adhered to the principals of non-violence practiced by Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King. The 1965 strikers took a pledge of non-violence and Cesar conducted a 25 day fast in 1968 to reaffirm the UFW's commitment to non-violence. Senator Robert F. Kennedy called Cesar "one of the heroic figures of our time." Like other UFW officers and staff, Caesar received subsistence pay that never topped $5,000 a year.
Cesar Chavez passed away on April 23, 1993, at the age of 66. More than 40,000 people participated in his funeral. He was laid to rest at La Paz in a rose garden at the foot of the hill he often climbed -- to watch the sun rise.

Tune in for our Next Hidden History when we discuss the revolutionary efforts of another famous American, Rachel Carson.