The Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez dedicated his life’s work to what he called la causa (the cause): the struggle of farm workers in the United States to improve their working and living conditions through organizing and negotiating contracts with their employers.

What did Cesar Chavez believe in?

Cesar Chavez was a civil rights and labor leader, an advocate for farmworkers as well as a farmworker himself, and a champion of preserving our natural environment, especially from chemicals and pesticides. Chavez believed in nonviolence as a way to create social change.

What other causes did Cesar Chavez support?

As a labor leader, Chavez employed nonviolent means to bring attention to the plight of farm workers. He led marches, called for boycotts and went on several hunger strikes. He also brought the national awareness to the dangers of pesticides to workers’ health.

What was Cesar Chavez main goal?

Goals and Objectives Chavez’s ultimate goal was “to overthrow a farm labor system in this nation which treats farm workers as if they were not important human beings.” In 1962, he founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which would form the backbone of his labor campaigns.

How did Cesar Chavez help the civil rights movement?

César Chávez (1927-1993) Through marches, strikes and boycotts, Chávez forced employers to pay adequate wages and provide other benefits and was responsible for legislation enacting the first Bill of Rights for agricultural workers.

What describes Cesar Chavez?

“Shy,” “self-effacing” and “introspective.” These are the words LIFE magazine used to describe Cesar Chavez back in 1966, just 4 years after he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Dolores Huerta, later to become the United Farm Workers of America, or UFW, the prominent labor union for farmworkers in

What was Cesar Chavez major accomplishments?

They then returned to San Jose, where Chavez worked as an apricot picker and then as a lumber handler for the General Box Company. Here, he befriended two social justice activists, Fred Ross and Father Donald McDonnell, both European-Americans whose activism was primarily within the Mexican-American community.

What happened Cesar Chavez?

Cesar Estrada Chavez died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993 near Yuma, Arizona, a short distance from the small family farm in the Gila River Valley where he was born more than 66 years before. He died standing up for their First Amendment right to speak out for themselves.

What working conditions did Cesar Chavez improve?

Cesar Chavez spent most of his life working on farms in California, where pay was low and comforts were few. He wanted to improve the situation, so in the 1950s, he started organizing agricultural workers into a labor union that would demand higher pay and better working conditions from their employers.