César Chávez Day
This commemorative holiday honors the life and work of labor leader and activist César Chávez.
This commemorative holiday honors the life and work of labor leader and activist César Chávez.
Marcella Lopez
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In 1962, the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), a predecessor of the United Farm Workers of America (1972), convened at their first meeting with César Chávez, alongside Dolores Huerta and other organizers. This first meeting led to increased organizing efforts. One of the union's largest and most enduring actions was the 1965 Delano grape strike and boycott. The strike and boycott brought awareness to the poor working conditions of the people in the grape fields.
The strike and boycott changed national public perception of farm workers. The strike and boycott brought attention to Americans on the dire farmworker conditions and the lack of legal labor protections for the workers. The boycott gained public popularity and humanized the conditions of the farmworkers. This increased pressure to recognize the rights of farmworkers culminated in 1975 with the passage of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which allowed farmworkers to unionize and prevented employers from firing those who did so.
Throughout his life, César Chávez engaged in a number of non-violent actions on behalf of farmworkers. This included high-profile fasts in 1968, 1972, and 1988—each of which lasted more than 24 days. His 1988 fast (his last fast-based protest) went on for 36 days.
In 1993, Chávez died in his sleep in Yuma, Arizona. He was in the midst of defending the union against Bruce Church, Inc., a large lettuce agribusiness.
Prompted by labor leaders and volunteers who began a movement for the holiday, California celebrated the first César Chávez Day in 2001. March 31st was chosen as the date, as that is his birthday. Later, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Rhode Island all declared César Chávez Day a holiday on the state level. In 2014, President Barack Obama declared César Chávez Day a federally observed holiday.
Traditions
The United Farm Workers union and other unions frequently hold labor actions on March 31st to honor and continue the work of Chávez.
What to do
As a commemorative holiday, the best thing to do on César Chávez Day is to honor his legacy by educating yourself on labor issues. The University of California press put together an essential César Chávez Day reading list, which includes books such as From the Jaws of Victory by Matthew Garcia. For children, the LA County library put together a list of titles for children of all ages, including the graphic novel Who Was the Voice of the People?: César Chávez by Terry Blas.
To learn more broadly about the U.S. labor movement, the Los Angeles Times put together a list of recommended reading including Philip Dray’s There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America.