Imagine if you had been working in a field, instead of getting an education in school, because your family needs money. What if you were in a factory with only half your fingers because hazardous machines have taken them while getting paid almost nothing. Those were the cases before Cesar Chavez and Mother Jones fought for people's rights and injustices. The biography “About Cesar” by the Cesar Chavez Foundation (CCF) is about Cesar’s life and how he fought for the farm workers’ justice to help create a union and contracts to keep the workers safe and happy. “Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for Workers Rights” by Judith Pinkerton Josephson is a biography about Mother Jones walking over a hundred miles to talk to the president so children labor …show more content…
Jones wanted to help these children because she had always loved children and because she thought that working when your still a kid in dangerous environments is horrible. Mother Jones had not had a change happen in her lifetime because she was ignored by many politicians, officials, and the president. As stated in the text, “Mother Jones looked directly at the city officials standing at the open windows across the street. Unmoved, the officials quickly closed their windows.” (Josephson,6) By convincing parents, and gathering around three-hundred men, women, and children, Mother Jones did her best to fight for the children’s rights. She was protecting and getting people’s attention while shedding light to the issue. For example, the author stated, “Mother Jones had drawn the attention of the nation to the problem of child labor.” (Josephson,9) For this reason, a law got passed in 1938 that concluded to tougher child labor laws and had drawn attention to the problems of child labor. Even though she did a great movement on trying to change child labor laws, many people and parents complained about her being selfish and not always thinking of …show more content…
He fought for farm workers’ rights, created a union, and got laws passed on safer and better work conditions. In the text it states, “The first genuine collective bargaining agreements between farm workers and growers in American history.” (CCF,24) Chavez did this because he once worked as a farmer trying to support his family, and he thought that there was injustices going on in the fields of California. Cesar got laws passed while protesting non-violently, boycotting, and fasting for twenty-five days. He also made people realize that they had a chance in providing migrant workers with a decent way of life. Cesar’s motto made people believe in themselves and gave them faith. The author wrote, “Because of Cesar and millions of Americans who supported farm workers by boycotting grapes and other products, under then-Gov. Jerry Brown California passed the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, the nation’s first, and still the only, law guaranteeing farm workers the right to organize, choose their own union representative and negotiate with their employers.” (CCF,24) Cesar impacted many lives as well as his own while tirelessly fighting for people's
When Cesar was a child he helped his family by working in the fields with them. He labored in the fields, orchards and vineyards. Since he was a migrant worker himself, this led him to become an activist for people in his situation. With non-violent acts such as: strikes, boycotts, marches, and fasts, Chavez was able to teach others how commitment and sacrifice can set you free. Chavez gained rights such as “...rest periods, toilets in the fields, clean drinking water, hand washing facilities, banning discrimination in employment and sexual harassment of women workers, requiring protective clothing against pesticide exposure, prohibiting pesticide spraying while workers are in the fields and outlawing DDT and other dangerous pesticides…” (24,CCF), and much more for farm workers when he established UFW as the first successful farm workers union in American history.
In 1969, Dolores Huerta reached a stumbling block in which she questioned, “How do I stop eleven million people from buying the grape?” (Huerta, Proclamation of the Delano Grape Workers). The essence of Huerta’s question is that she needed to develop a different strategy that would prevent growers from gaining profits from grape sales. Meanwhile, two years into the grape boycott, farmworkers from Delano, California had gained the support for equal rights from political figures and consumers throughout the United States. Furthermore, Americans from all walks of life were able to sympathize with the farmworkers who merely sought for better working conditions, increased wages, and growers to recognize their union.
Mary Harris was desperate to get the conditions of child labor publicised, she asked almost every news paper and know one would. “Well, I’ve got stock in these little children and I’ll arrange a little publicity,” is how she responded. She showed no fear to show the whole world how child labor negatively affected children both mentally and physically. When the march finally began it consisted of an “army” of children, and accompanied by a few men and women
Cesar Chavez, born March, 31, 1927 near Yuma, Arizona, was a civil rights activist who fought for rights of farmers. He was the founder of National Farmers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. He used nonviolence to fight for the union’s agenda. Chavez was a prominent labor leader throughout his life. He died for April 23, 1993 near San Luis, Arizona (Biography.com)
Cesar’s Freedom Fight Cesar Chavez made an ADJ. impact by passionately fighting for Migrant workers without having to pull a trigger or end a life. Chavez, a child of Mexican American migrant farmers, was born in Arizona in 1927. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) in 1962 and never stopped fighting for their rights. In 1970, Chavez successfully pressured powerful grape growers to give farm workers a contract with fair rights, wages, and respect.
Mary Harris Jones was known as “the miners’ angel” by thousands (Tonn 313). She was also called “Mother Jones” by many workers (World Book). She was born on May 1, 1830, and she died on November 30, 1930 (World Book). She organized strikes and groups to defend coal miners, especially for the children coal miners. She founded the Industrial Workers of the World, which is
Do you ever wonder what it was like to live in a time period where children didn’t have basic workplace rights? Mary Jones knew how this felt. She was a labor activist, as well as a children's rights activist. Mary lived during the time when women, workers, children, and slaves fought for their rights. She took risks and always had her eyes set on her goals.
Cesar Chavez It seem to me that Cesar Chavez was an important Hispanic person during the civil rights movement. He was a farm worker, labor leader, and a civil rights activist, and he was also in the navy. He was born near Yuma, Arizona, on March 31, 1927. He fought for all the nationality farm workers to get them a better life. But that wasn’t easy, he fasted a million times, and marched many times.
He help so many farmers and Mexicans, Americans. He started boycotting and strikes. He also never gave up until the farmer workers had better working conditions, and more pay. Chavez improved the lives of farm workers and Mexican, Americans. Thus, Cesar Chavez is one of the many reasons why we have equal rights today.
Cesar’s religious and spiritual perspective enabled him to unite people to reform the farm workers’ lifestyle. He created his own myths in order to gain millions of support from people who are either inside the struggle or outside of it. Cesar’s myth of nonviolence swayed the mass that money, weapons, and power are not needed to invoke change, but only commitment and patience are needed. His “militant nonviolence” style led many farm workers into believing and seeing Cesar’s vision that the struggle is possible to achieve. Through nonviolence comes self-sacrifice.
One of Chavez’s most well-known protests is the Delano Grape Strike. Chavez is well known for this individual strike because he was specifically asked from the Filipinos, who were the peoples that were affected so they started the strike because of bad pay (90 cents an hour) and horrible working conditions. Cesar accepted the invitation from the Filipinos because he felt as though this strike could have been helpful towards his protesting causes. This strike focused on the pay, working conditions, and the land owner’s violent actions towards the farm workers. Cesar new the fight for these rights was not going to end anytime soon.
Some would die due to the horrible working conditions such as no water, no breaks, and harsh labor. For these struggles to end farmers needed a new leader to fight for them and that 's when Cesar Chavez came along. When Cesar Chavez came along and took control he became an effective leader because he was willing to create a union, expose the working conditions, and his methods of boycotting. One of the reasons why Cesar Chavez was an effective leader was because he created a union.
She wondered how she could draw more attention into this problem and got an idea from the Liberty Bell on national tour, which was drawing a huge crowd around it. “ Philadelphia’s famous Liberty Bell, currently on a national tour and drawing huge crowds, gave her an idea. She and the textile union leaders will stage their own tour. They would march the mill children all the way to the president of the United States—Theodore Roosevelt. Mother Jones wanted the president to get Congress to pass a law that would take the children out of the mills, mines, and factories and put them into school.”
" Flynn and Mother Jones worked together on several big projects, including the Lawrence Textile Strike, and Flynn credited Mother Jones with delivering a key victory for workers' rights. Memorable Quote: “My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong.”
Mexican-American Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) is known as an American farm worker, a prominent union leader, labor organizer, and a civil rights activist. By having much experience since he was a migrant worker when he was very young, Chavez with another co-founder created The National Farm Workers Association in 1962 that later became United Farm Workers. As a union leader, his union and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee made their first strike against grape growers in California. Having been through many hardships as a migrant farm worker, the Latino American civil rights activist led marches, called for boycotts, and made strikes to raise and recover conditions for farm workers. His contributions led to numerous improvements for