麻豆传媒

, Mexican鈥揂merican civil-rights activist, practiced nonviolent resistance to improve the working and living conditions of farm workers in the United States. Having experienced injustice growing up in the early 1930鈥檚, C茅sar Ch谩vez saw his father work the land where his home was located in Arizona only to have it taken from them in a broken land agreement. Following this life-changing event, the Ch谩vez family moved to California, eventually settling in San Jose where C茅sar encountered racism and segregation throughout his early years in school. After the eighth grade, C茅sar quit school to become a migrant farm worker when his father was no longer able to work due to an accident. While his formal education ended, C茅sar never stopped learning and educating himself through books.

His passion for activism began in 1952 as a grassroots organizer for the Community Service Organization (CSO), which was a Latino civil rights group in California where he worked to register voters and fight discrimination and eventually became the national director. Leaving CSO in 1962, C茅sar founded the , which later became the . Working with Dolores Huerta, they traveled parts of California to recruit union members to work together to improve the conditions for farm workers. Joining the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a Filipino-American labor group led by Larry Itliong, in a five-year  they were successful in accepting a contract with better pay and benefits for the farm workers. Eventually leading to the passage of the , which established collective-bargaining rights for all farmworkers across California.

Following C茅sar鈥檚 passing in 1993, his widow, Helen Ch谩vez, accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously on his behalf in 1994, awarded by President Clinton. In 2014, President Obama established a federal commemorative holiday in honor of C茅sar Ch谩vez celebrated on March 31, the day of his birth.

The United Farm Workers continue to fight injustices in agriculture including the use of pesticides, overtime laws, and garnering support for the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act written to give farm workers more choice in voting in union elections in an effort to increase their voices through votes.

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For additional education and personal development related to diversity, equity and inclusion, the following resources are available: DEI Education and Resources, from the 麻豆传媒 Libraries, the from the Colorado Department of Higher Education, and the UNITE workshops for faculty, staff, and students.