Cesar Chavez

There have been plenty of people who have contributed to the historical development of California since it became the 33rd US state in 1850. Cesar Chavez is one of the many people who has played a huge role in the culture of California. His biggest role was in the labor workforce of California. Chavez decided to form the union based on his background as a child working in the fields. He personally experienced the unfair wages, hours, and other harsh conditions that farmworkers dealt with due to the fact that there was not a union.

Cesar Chavez was born March 31, 1927, in Yuma, Arizona. He moved to California alongside his parents and four other siblings where he spent his early years working in the fields and as a teenager did other various jobs such as driving those who could not around. Chavez dropped out of school in 7th grade so that his mother no longer had to work in the fields and he became a full-time farm

Chavez’s union later joined with the Agriculture Workers Organizing Committee to be renamed the United Farm Workers Union. As the president of the union, Chavez promoted non-violent means for change. Some means for attention from Chavez included hunger strikes, marches, and boycotts.

Cesar Chavez also made strides against farmers using toxic pesticides on their crops. Many of these pesticides are used to kill weeds and other unwanted pests, but they are causing life-threatening side effects and death for those who consume the crops, live near the fields, and specifically the field workers. Cesar Chavez went on a hunger strike in order to get his message across to ban harmful pesticides. He completed a 29-day fast stating “that his action was aimed at ending the use of five pesticides commonly used in the growing of table grapes, the state's largest fruit crop