How Did Cesar Chavez Contribute To The Civil Rights Movement

Cesar Chavez was a civil rights activist known famously for his contributions to migrant farmworkers in the late sixties and seventies. He was a big advocate for non violent protests and would often encourage boycotts and participate in protests against the poor treatment of farmworkers. His contributions to the civil rights of farmworkers changed many lives and continues to have a positive effect to this day. Cesar Chavez had a long and interesting political career dating from the early 1950’s until his death in 1993. Before that, he had worked as a laborer in the fields and enlisted in the Navy. In the early 1950’s, Chavez worked as a community and labor organizer before founding the NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) in 1962. The

In order to bring attention to the movement, Chavez embarked on several heroic journeys, the most famous of which were his extraordinarily long fasts and his even more impressive march to sacramento. In 1966 Chavez, along with many other supporters, began a three hundred mile march from delano to sacramento california. They had marched to sacramento in order to pressure the California government and to bring attention to their movement. about the issues farmworkers were facing. In 1968, Cesar Chavez put himself through a 25 day fast in which he ate nothing and drank only water in order to once again, bring attention to his organization’s movement. Chavez’s great sacrifices strengthened the movement and gave so much more that what any one man could have imagined. Chavez continued with protests and boycotts throughout the rest of the 60’s and continued well into the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. While drawing influence from Gandhi, Cesar knew that non-violence would gain the most support from the general public, which it did, and strongly encouraged that the movement should stay that

In 1973, the United Farm Workers of America once again called for another boycott of grapes gaining participants across the nation. This had been matched with large success with numbers going as high as 17 million who refused to buy grapes by 1975. The boycotts success did not stop at numbers. These actions led to the passing of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. This was the first law in the history of the United States that protected the rights of farm workers. This was a huge success for the union as it had achieved something, through the power of people all over the nation, that had never been granted in the united states. Again, like in 1968, Chavez had gone through another 25 day fast. This time, he had done so in reaction to the passing of the legislation in Arizona that forbade farm workers to boycott or protest during harvesting seasons. In 1975, Jerry brown, having won the election as California’s governor the year before, had lost interest and support in the UFW. In response, the UFW organized a 110 mile march from San Francisco to Modesto.There had been a few hundred departing San Francisco in late february but upon arrival, more than 15 thousand supporters had shown up. This march had gained enough media attention to spark Browns interest in the UFW, leading him to the signing of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which allowed