March 31 is Cesar Chavez Day. His name is pronounced say-zar SHAH-vez.
In the office of the President of the United States, there is a bust of Cesar. A bust is a statue of a person’s head and neck. When President Biden took office, he borrowed the bust from the Chavez family. It sits on a table behind the president’s desk. When someone takes a picture of the president working at his desk, often the bust of Cesar can be seen in the picture.
What did Cesar do that was so important a U.S. president would want a statue of him in the Oval Office?
We’ll answer that question in just a bit. But first, because Cesar was poor as a child and didn’t get a very good education, no one would have guessed he’d grow up to become famous.
Cesar was born on March 31, 1927 near Yuma, Arizona. He was named Cesar Estrada Chavez. The name, Cesar, is a shortened form of his grandfather’s name, Cesario. His family lived in a small adobe hut. Adobe is a kind of brick that is made from dirt and straw. He had two brothers and two sisters.
When he was 11, his family moved to California and became migrant farm workers. This means that they worked in different areas doing different types of farm work and would move to new places depending on what crops needed working. They might help with avocados, then move to help harvest peas, then move again to work in lettuce fields, then move to work with grapes. It was hard work and didn’t pay very much, but it was the only type of work they could find.
Because the family moved so much, Cesar changed schools often. He attended 37 different schools. Cesar loved learning, but didn’t like school because the classes were all in English. It was against the rules to speak Spanish in school and students could be punished for breaking the rule.
In 1942, he graduated from the eighth grade. He did not go on to high school because his father, Librado, was injured in an accident and could no longer work. Cesar didn’t want his mother, Juana, to have to work in the farm fields, so he quit school and became a full-time farm worker.
He joined the U.S. Navy in 1946 and served for two years. In 1948, he married Helen Fabela. They had eight children.
Cesar was very concerned about the difficult lives of migrant farm workers. They had to work hard, but were not paid well. They didn’t have safe places to live. They were often required to do dangerous jobs, and if they were injured, they got no free medical care. And because they had to move so often, working different crops, children couldn’t get good educations. Also, many children worked in the farm fields, so it was hard to even go to school.
In 1962, Cesar founded an organization called the National Farm Workers Association. Later, it became the United Farm Workers, called the UFW.
Cesar believed in nonviolence. He wanted to bring about changes in how farm workers were treated, but he wanted to make it happen peacefully. Through the UFM, he organized strikes, meaning the workers would refuse to work unless they were paid better and given safer working conditions. The UFM also encouraged people to boycott certain fruits and vegetables. Boycott means to refuse to buy a product.
Change was slow in coming, and many farm workers wanted to use violence, such as destroying crops and burning farm buildings, but Cesar said this was a bad idea and would cause more problems than it solved.
To draw attention to the unfair conditions of farm workers, Cesar would sometimes fast – go without food. In 1968, he fasted for 25 days, eating no food and drinking only water. He did this again in 1972 for 24 days. Newspapers and television would show pictures of Cesar becoming thin from fasting. This would embarrass the giant farms that hired workers and would inspire the workers to remain nonviolent.
In 1988, Cesar fasted for 36 days. He called it a Fast for Life. During the fast he lost 33 pounds. When he ended his fast, he asked that other people throughout the world continue the fast. Hundreds of people did, each fasting for a few days. A famous man named Jesse Jackson fasted for three days and encouraged other famous people to continue the fast one at a time. Around a dozen people, including some Hollywood actors and actresses, took up the challenge. This got a lot of news coverage and drew much attention to the difficult lives of farm workers.
What did Cesar do that was so important a U.S. president would want a statue of him in the Oval Office? He helped improve the lives of thousands of poor farm workers, getting them better wages and better treatment. And he did it without violence.
Cesar Chavez died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993 near Yuma, Arizona. He was 66.
Fun Facts
• As a child, Chavez was nicknamed “Manzi” because of his fondness for manzanilla tea. Manzanilla is the Spanish word for chamomile, a type of herb.
• As an adult, there were many shelves filled with books in his home. He loved reading and learning.
• A year after his death, Cesar was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton. Cesar’s wife, Helen, accepted the award.
• Barack Obama used a slogan – Yes, we can! – during his campaign for president in 2008. He borrowed it from a Cesar Chavez slogan, Si, se puede, which means Yes, it is possible.
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