Cesar Estrada Chavez
Cesar Estrada Chavez was born March 31, 1927 and died April 23, 1993 in Arizona. Cesar Chavez became the Mexican American or Chicano Symbol for the Mexicans of the United Farm Workers Union. “Chavez was, metaphorically, our soul and our vision in a world of nothingness and chaos. Chavez was not only the soul, but the fire in our soul-the logos of the Chicano experience.” (Garcia, 1994, Pg.). He was also said to be like a Mexican Martin Luther King Jr. “There were no Martin Luther King Jr’s in Mexican American politics in the early 1960s.” (Garcia, 1994, Pg.). Not only did Chavez remind some people of Martin Luther King Jr but he also followed various forms of leadership from him. Of course like every new leader, his leadership was questioned by some, but
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The UFW was born when Chavez and Dolores Huerta collaborated to start the union. It was first recognized as the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). Chavez was the one that designed the flag and chose the colors, red and black. He did this to give courage to the members of the union, he said “A symbol is an important thing. That is why we chose an Aztec eagle. It gives pride . . . When people see it they know it means dignity.” Chavez’s image for the union was to fight for the improvement of wages for migrant farm workers. Chavez never organized the UFW to benefit from it. “Although he was always proud to be part of the labor movement, Chavez was never comfortable with the generous salaries and affluent lifestyles enjoyed by many labor leaders” (Rodriguez, 2011, Pg.). Cesar Chavez organized and led the UFW to fix the unjust wages of the migrant farm workers. While he started organizing, he had to take the risk to get the union started because he was not sure if it was actually going to