The Story Of Cesar Chavez And Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter For Workers Rights

902 Words4 Pages

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

Open Document