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How Did Cesar Chavez Influence The Civil Rights Movement

1371 Words6 Pages

Cesar Chavez took a stand for farm workers, the working class in America. He was one of the greatest Mexican American civil rights leader in history (Engelbert). He managed to make a difference with nonviolence. He had unique ways to illuminate the struggles the people dealt with on a day to day basis. One major event that made a big impact was the Delano Grape Boycott. Cesar Chavez's personal experiences and what he went through in his early life influenced is actions. Cesar Chavez stood up for working class farm workers in order to improve their pay, treatment and conditions in which they worked. He did this by leading and organizing marches, boycotts and strikes. Cesar Chavez was a Mexican american civil rights leader. He recognized …show more content…

He partnered with Dolores Huerta and established the National Farm Workers Association (Engelbert 99). This union had both setbacks as well as achievements. He believed the way to get to success is with nonviolence. His principle was to use nonviolence as an active force for positive change, which was influenced by writing of saint Francis and Mahatma Gandhi (Oboler 310). The union leaders initiated a grape boycott as well as a march. This event occurred in 1965 and was known as The Delano Grape Boycott. This boycott asked for citizens to not by grapes in order to improve the conditions for migrant workers. Most people from Delano were involved and walked with …show more content…

It is said that Chavez was a major factor which contributed to the first Bill or Rights legislation for agricultural workers (Human Rights). This shows that gradually workers began to get better recognition and treated better. The UFW and Chavez were responsible for the success for securing the rights of the laborers (Gale). The first union contracts were then made official, these included required rest periods, toilets in the fields, clean drinking water, hand washing facilities, banning discrimination in employment, sexual harassment for women workers and provided profit sharing and parental leave (Cesar Chavez Foundation). This shows that the efforts made for the farm workers was paying off with positive results. This was a big deal because according to the UFW, “laws regarding working standards were simply ignored by growers”, and finally that was going to change. Over one hundred years farm workers tried to make a union and did not succeed until Cesar Chavez came along. The government began to act as well. They guaranteed farm workers the right to organize (Cesar Chavez Foundation). This gave farm workers more freedom and also showed equality. Millions of Americans accompanied Chavez in supporting farm workers which lead to passing the Agricultural Labor Relation Acts of 1975 (Chavez Foundation). This shows how the involvement of others

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