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Congressional Gold Medal Nominee Cesar E. Chavez
Cesar Chavez
"Civil rights leader Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) founded the United Farm Workers of America. A tireless advocate for justice and equality for all people, he dedicated his life to working in service of others." Nancy Pelosi Statement on Cesar Chavez Birthday - Press Release
Wednesday March 31, 12:18 pm ET 'Civil Rights Leader is an Example for All Americans' WASHINGTON, --
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, the recipient of the 2003 Cesar Chavez Legacy Award from the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, today released the following statement in honor of the 77th anniversary of Cesar E. Chavez's birthday: "Cesar Chavez was one of America's greatest advocates for justice and equality, and a model of service to others. We are proud to celebrate his legacy, and we pay special tribute to his significance in American history and to his commitment for a prosperous America. "I saw firsthand Cesar Chavez's tireless commitment to improving the lives of America's farm workers. As the founder of America's first farm workers union, the United Farm Workers, he secured their right to organize and bargain collectively for fair working conditions. "Cesar Chavez's efforts succeeded in achieving fair wages, pension benefits and medical coverage for hundreds of thousands of working families. He also demonstrated his love for his country by serving during World War II. He showed us that together we can make a safe and prosperous America with a strong and vibrant economy -- an America with good jobs and good pay. Eleven years after his death, his life's work and legacy continue to inspire millions. "I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of Congressman
Joe Baca's legislation that would award Cesar Chavez a
Congressional Gold Medal for his distinguished service to the nation. "As Cesar Chavez said, 'If you are outraged at conditions, then you can't possibly be free or happy until you devote all your time to changing them.' "In Congress, we must continue his struggle to ensure that every citizen has access to quality health care and every child receives the best possible education. Working together, we can give everyone in this nation, whether they have been here for generations or just arrived to our shores, the opportunity to realize the American dream."
Source: Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
As described by his family, Cesar Chavez was an ordinary man with an extraordinary legacy of great accomplishment and service to humanity. Cesar was born March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona on a farm his grandfather homesteaded in the 1880s. At age 10, his life as a migrant farm worker began when his family lost their land during the Great Depression. These were bitterly poor years for the Chavez family as they, together with thousands of other displaced families, migrated throughout the Southwest to labor in the fields and vineyards. Although he possessed a thirst for learning that he would exhibit throughout the course of his life, Cesar left school after the eighth grade to help support his family. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1945 and served in the Western Pacific in the aftermath of World War II. In 1948, he married Helen Febela, whom he met while working in the vineyards of Delano. The Chavez family settled in the East San Jose barrio of Sal Si Puedes from which he continued to work in the surrounding fields, orchards, and vineyards of the region. It was in 1952 that Cesar's life as a community organizer began. While working in the apricot orchards outside San Jose, he became a full-time organizer with the Community Service Organization (CSO), a self-help group among Mexican Americans. In this capacity he organized voter registration drives, battled racial and economic discrimination, and organized CSO chapters across California and Arizona. Following his dream to establish an organization dedicated to farm workers, Cesar moved his family to Delano, California in 1962 to establish the National Farm Workers Association. Over the next thirty-one years, Cesar would forge a legacy of service, conviction and principled leadership that serves as a beacon for all Americans. As President of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), AFL-CIO, he founded and led the first successful farm workers union in U.S. history. Under his stewardship a broad coalition of unions, religious groups, students, minorities, and consumers joined together to pursue social justice. The late Senator Robert Kennedy called Cesar Chavez, "One of the heroic figures of our time." As a testimony to his lifelong contributions to humanity, he received the highest civilian awards from the United States and Mexico, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Aguila Azteca respectively. This is the legacy that we celebrate and seek to share with our children and all Californians through the Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning. The late
Mexican American civil rights leader and union organizer Cesar Chavez has been chosen to be nominated for the
Congressional Gold Medal, commemorating a common man with an uncommon vision of non-violent social change and service to others. Cesar Chavez is someone who "understood the hardships of working people and fought hard to bring about justice and quality of life for them and their families." The late U.S. Senator and Attorney General
Robert Kennedy once called Chavez "one of the heroic figures of our time." A second-generation American with only an eighth-grade education, Chavez left school to become a farm worker after his family lost its farm in the U.S. state of Arizona, and thus its means of support during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Cesar Chavez's son, Paul, said in an interview that the family forebears migrated in the early 1900s from Mexico's Chihuahua state to Yuma, Arizona. Throughout his youth and into adulthood, Cesar Chavez worked all across the southwestern United States, where he was exposed to the hardships of the backbreaking manual labor of farm work in lettuce fields and vineyards. Paul Chavez said that even a decade after his father's passing, "his example and values continue to resonate with people of good will -- just as they did during the 40-odd years that he marched, fasted, and stood with the less fortunate." Cesar Chavez became a legend after bringing to fruition his dream to create an organization to protect and serve farm workers, whose poverty and disenfranchisement he shared. In 1962, Chavez resigned from a regular paying job to establish the first successful farm workers' union in U.S. history -- what became known as the United Farm Workers of America. For decades, he worked to win farm workers fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, humane living conditions, and numerous other basic protections. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, Chavez negotiated the first union contracts for farm workers in the mid- and late 1960s, using strikes and boycotts to achieve his goals. His efforts resulted in the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which remains the only law in the United States that protects the right of farm workers to organize into unions. A strong believer in the principles of non-violence practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Chavez also went on hunger fasts to fight unjust conditions. In 1988, the 61-year-old Chavez used a 36-day "Fast for Life" to protest the harmful effects of pesticides on farm workers and children. Biographers say Chavez's life cannot be measured by material success. For instance, he never earned more than $6,000 a year, never owned a house, and, when he died in 1993, had no savings to leave to his family. While he lacked formal schooling, Chavez was self-educated, with an intense interest in philosophy, economics, and union organizing. He liked to say that "the end of all education should surely be service to others." Chavez's motto was "it can be done" ("si se puede" in Spanish), which encapsulated his approach to life. In 1994, he was posthumously awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. In 1991, Mexico awarded Chavez "The Aztec Eagle" (Aguila Azteca), its highest civilian award to people of Mexican heritage who have made major contributions outside Mexico. Dozens of communities across the United States have named schools, parks, streets, libraries and other public facilities, and awards and scholarships in his honor. California established March 31 as an official state holiday, "Cesar Chavez Day," designed to promote service by citizens to their communities. More than 50,000 people attended his funeral after Chavez died in his sleep in 1993 in San Luis, Arizona, near where he was born 66 years earlier. It was the largest attendance at a funeral for any labor leader in U.S. history. Cesar Chavez was "a humble man of deep conviction, who lived the American dream," said his son. "He demonstrated that with hard work and integrity, there is no limit to what can be achieved."
Cesar Chavez family home in Delano, Kern County.
Medal sought for Chavez BILL:
Congressional recognition is proposed for the late farmworkers rights leader. 12:50 AM PST on Thursday, April 1, 2004 By CLAIRE VITUCCI / Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - An Inland congressman honored the legacy of Cesar Chavez on his birthday Wednesday by introducing legislation that would award the late Hispanic civil-rights leader a
Congressional Gold Medal. "When you look at his contributions, what he's done, he's inspired millions of Americans and he's been a symbol of unity for the Latino community for many years," said Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, who introduced the legislation. "He fought for justice, equality and dignity." To pass, the bill must be co-sponsored by two-thirds of both the House and Senate. The majority of both houses must approve the legislation and then it must be signed by the president. So far, Baca has secured 115 co-sponsors. Chavez led marches and nonviolent protests to bring attention to the working conditions of farmworkers and co-founded the United Farm Workers union. In 1992, Chavez helped organize a farmworker walkout in the Coachella Valley at the height of the grape-picking season, seeking higher pay, clean drinking water and sanitary facilities. He died a year later at the age of 66. The
Congressional Gold Medal is awarded by Congress as its highest honor to those who have made monumental contributions to society. Prior recipients have ranged from entertainers such as
Bob Hope to religious icons such as
Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Slightly more than 300 people have been awarded the honor. About 10 people are nominated each year, but not all are awarded a medal, said Jim Salmon of Northridge, a historian who runs patriotic websites, including
www.congressionalgoldmedal.com. "I think he's the sort of individual that should be nominated," Salmon said of Chavez. "I think he's an example for not only the Hispanic community but all Americans."
United Farm Workers organizer Cesar Chavez helped organize a walkout in the Coachella Valley in 1992 at the height of the grape-picking season. Baca leads effort to honor Cesar Chavez with Congressional Gold Medal - March 17, 2005 Washington Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto) reintroduced legislation today to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez is a true hero of American civil rights. He is an inspiration to Hispanics and all people in America. He fought to ensure better conditions for farm workers and brought national attention to the labor movement. His work opened up opportunities for Hispanics throughout the nation, said Rep. Baca. It is time that Congress recognize Cesar Chavez for his role in shaping American history. No American Hispanic has ever been honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, and it is time for that to change." An ardent follower of the pacifist teachings of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Chavez fought for social change, becoming an inspiration and resource to all Americans and people throughout the world. In 1994, Chavez became only the second Mexican-American to be honored as a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. His life not only represents hope, but also the prospect of a better life for those who need it most. This bill will demonstrate our nations appreciation for Cesar Chavez non-violent struggle on behalf of farm workers, said Rep. Baca. Chavez was the grandson of a Mexican immigrant and grew up working as a migrant farm worker. He organized farm workers to campaign for safe and fair working conditions, reasonable wages, decent housing and to outlaw child labor. In 1962, Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association, the predecessor to the United Farm Workers of America, the first successful farm workers organization. La Causa became his lifes work, and the rallying cry for thousands of farm workers and immigrants. He organized several grape boycotts to draw attention to pesticide poisoning of grape pickers and their children. It is estimated that up to 17 million Americans joined the boycott in the 1970s. His nonviolent struggle became an inspiration to Americans and people around the world. Rep. Baca has also introduced H.Res. 127, which will establish an un-paid legal holiday in honor of Chavez and require schools to teach about his life and work and the farm workers movement. I am going to be persistent, until Congress gives Cesar Chavez the recognition he deserves. If it takes me the remainder of my time in the United States Congress, I will keep pushing for the life and work of Cesar Chavez to be honored. The bill has 89 original cosponsors, including all members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. It has the support of the United Farm Workers of America and the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
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