![]() It was then that Chávez got a firsthand look at how backbreaking the work was. When Chávez was 11, his family lost their farm during the Depression, packed their bags and became migrant farmworkers – constantly relocating around California for seasonal work. Like most minorities, he didn’t grow up with much, but he was raised around family, and they usually had enough to eat from working their land. It’s that status that’s made him an integral part of Hispanic heritage in America.Ĭhávez’s contributions to farmworkers and the history of labor are historic – but like all historical figures, he's complicated.īorn in 1927, Chávez was raised in Yuma, Ariz. A Los Angeles Times poll from 1983 revealed that he was the Latino that Latinos in California admired most – above both actor Ricardo Montalbán and baseball player Fernando Valenzuela. ![]() His organization of farmworkers, his hunger strikes, and his grape boycotts have made him one of the few Latino icons of the civil rights era. Though he passed away in 1993, Chávez is still perhaps the most famous labor organizer in American history. It’s one of countless monuments, schools, parks and streets either named or renamed to solidify his place in American history. The monument spans only two acres but is home to both a museum and the gravesite of Chávez and his wife, Helen. ![]()
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