Cesar Chavez Thesis

The Man Who Dedicated His Life to Helping Others Throughout history, there have been certain individuals who have risen up to set examples for future generations. Whether it has been through speech, action, or sacrifice, these certain individuals dedicated their lives towards impacting certain populations. Though there are many groups that have been impacted throughout history, Latinos are one of the main populations known for their ability to change. There have been many historical figures known for their impact on Latino communities, but one of the main ones to stand out is a man known as Cesar Chavez. With hard work and determination, he fought for farmworker’s rights, he organized labor unions, and he pushed for a nonviolent social change.

Cesar Chavez possessed this quality because he once faced the same struggles as the farm workers did. When Chavez was a young boy, his family lost their farm in Arizona as a result of the Great Depression. This forced him to move to California, where he would then become a farmworker. This period of his life was filled with many hardships, including Chavez dropping out of school to work in a field full time (Castle). Due to his relatability with farm workers, he founded an organization called the National Farm Workers Association, which would later be renamed to the United Farm Workers. This organization focused on fighting for farm workers’ rights, even if that meant going to extremes. Another great quality a leader should harness is the ability to attract followers, and Cesar Chavez was great at this. Through many speeches and demonstrations, he was able to persuade many farm workers to join his cause. In one of his many inspirational speeches, he told the angry farmworkers that ¨we are not slaves and we are not animals. And we are not alone¨ (The Union and the Strike,

He made sure that whatever his union was protesting, it was carried out efficiently and safely. Though he was able to successfully uphold his vow towards nonviolence, it was not an easy task. To prove to his followers that there were ways to protest nonviolently, he decided to put on demonstrations. In order to get his point across to his followers, Cesar Chavez decided to go on a fast. His first fast was a twenty five day spiritual fast, which was primarily focused on protesting the abuse of farm workers (Cesar’s Last Fast). This fast was quite successful, for it attracted an abundance of attention nationwide. On the last day of the fast, Robert Kennedy was supportive enough to spend the last few hours of the fast with Chavez. Though it may not seem like it, a fast for that long can put someone’s life at risk. The thought of going through a long period of time without food or water is quite haunting. It is logical that after fasting, a human would not want to go through that pain again, unless you’re Cesar Chavez. Four years after his historic fast, a situation arose where Chavez decided that it was time to fast for a second time. The purpose of this fast is directed towards Arizona, where certain laws denied farmworkers rights. Cesar Chavez wouldn’t stand for this, so he decided to go to Arizona to fast for twenty four days (Barriozona). Through this fast he was able to gain many young followers. This was