In the early 1960s, Cesar Chavez wrote a new chapter in the history of the American labor movement by organizing the first successful union of farmworkers. Through his commitment to nonviolence and his deep faith in the justice of his cause, he transformed a local labor struggle into a moral crusade that brought hope to the hopeless and aroused the conscience of the nation.

Cesar Chavez was born in 1927 to a Mexican-American family in the Southwest. As a child he performed stoop labor in the fields as his family followed the crops up and down the West Coast. As a young man with a family, he was eager to move away from the poverty of his upbringing. But he was influenced by a priest who instilled in him a passion for social justice and later by community activists who trained him in the techniques of organization. After moving to Delano, California, he founded the United Farmworkers Union (UFW).

The union was built on principles of sacrifice and solidarity and a commitment to nonviolence. Marches by the UFW often had a religious character, reinforced by public prayer, banners of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and public fasting. Along with strikes and picket lines, the UFW added consumer boycotts that appealed for public support. The strikers faced arrests and beatings, and the movement had its martyrs. And yet, whenever the cause faced defeat, Chavez breathed life into the struggle through his personal commitment and charisma.

He died on April 23, 1993.

“It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life.”

—Cesar Chavez