Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers and organized campaigns for farmworkers’ rights.

United Farm Workers: A labor union founded in 1962 to organize agricultural workers in the United States. Chavez co-founded and led the union that anchored his organizing campaigns.
Grape boycott: A consumer campaign urging people to stop buying table grapes to pressure growers over farmworker wages and union recognition. The boycott carried the Delano strike beyond California fields to retailers and consumers nationwide.
Dolores Huerta: An American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers. Huerta was Chavez’s closest organizing partner and a major negotiator for the union.
Teamsters–United Farm Workers conflict: A conflict between the Teamsters union and the UFW over representation of agricultural workers, especially in California during the 1970s. The dispute exposed tensions over union jurisdiction and the protection of farmworker organizing.
Sí se puede: A Spanish phrase meaning “yes, it can be done,” adopted as a rallying cry by the United Farm Workers. The slogan became closely associated with Chavez’s organizing and later circulated beyond the union.
Delano grape strike: A farm labor strike launched in California in 1965 by Filipino and Mexican American workers seeking higher wages. Chavez and the National Farm Workers Association joined this strike, which became a defining union campaign.
Nonviolent resistance: A form of political action that opposes injustice without using physical violence. Chavez presented nonviolence as both a moral commitment and a practical organizing discipline.
Larry Itliong: A Filipino American labor organizer who led the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee during the Delano grape strike. Itliong’s call for a strike preceded and helped prompt the UFW’s participation.
Bracero Program: A U.S.–Mexico guest-worker program that brought Mexican laborers to American farms from 1942 to 1964. Chavez opposed the program, arguing that growers used contract labor to weaken farmworkers’ bargaining power.
Cesar Chavez Day: A U.S. commemorative holiday honoring Cesar Chavez, observed on March 31 in several states and localities. The holiday shows how his labor activism entered public commemoration.

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