Cesar Chavez & the UFW
Labor and Civil Rights
1903
Japanese Mexican Labor Assoc. sugar beet
strike, Oxnard, California. The American
Federation of Labor (AFL) refuses to let the
organization join if it accepts Japanese or
Chinese members
1909
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) founded in
response to the 1908 race riot in Springfield,
Illinois, birthplace of President Abraham
Lincoln
1913
International Workers of the World
Wheatland strike near Marysville,
California. The strike leaves four men dead
Presented by
California passes law restricting “alien land
purchases” to keep Asians from buying
property
Immigration Act bars entry to all Asians,
leading to importation of workers from the
Phillipines, an American possession
1924
1927
Cesar Chavez born, Yuma Arizona, to
Juana and Librado Chavez. He will be one
of seven children
1935
The Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO) is formed
1936
National Labor Relations Act takes effect,
excluding farmworkers from protections
enjoyed by other workers
Baby Cesar at baptism.
1937
The Chavez family loses their store and
farm, and becomes migrant farmworkers in
California
Auto workers sit-down strikes lead to a
contract at General Motors in Detroit
CIO organizes shed workers in Salinas
1942
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Bracero program begins, authorizing the
importation of Mexican workers under
contract to do agricultural and railroad work
Faced with the threat of a Negro march on
Washington, President Rosevelt
establishes the Fair Employment Practices
Commission (FEPC), and opens war
industries to blacks
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is
founded in Chicago by conscientious
objectors James Farmer and George
Houser.
1946
Cesar Chavez joins the Navy, serves 2
years in the Pacific
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)
and CORE organize the Journey of
Reconciliation, the first freedom ride on
buses in the south
1947
Taft-Hartley act limiting labor organizing is
passed by Congress over President
Truman’s veto
1948
Cesar Chavez marries Helen Favela. They
move to San Jose
Paul Robeson’s concert in Peekskill, NY
attacked by vigilantes
1949
CIO expells nine progressive labor unions
that refuse to expel Communists from their
leadership
1952
Fred Ross recruits Cesar Chavez into
Community Services Organization. Chavez
becomes a community organizer, and rises
to head the organization
1954
The US Supreme Court outlaws "separate
but equal" schools in landmark case Brown
vs. Board of Education
1955
Rosa Parks refuses to sit in the back of the
bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Black
citizens begin the Montgomery bus boycott,
and Martin Luther King emerges as a leader
The AFL and CIO merge to become the
AFL-CIO
Black college students begin lunch counter
sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina,
leading to the formation of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC)
1960
1961
Mrs. Wilson, Peach Picker, 1950's
Photo: Ernie Lowe
1962
Cesar Chavez leaves CSO and returns to
Delano, California to start the National
Farm Worker Association (NFWA). He is
joined by Dolores Huerta, Gilbert Padilla,
Jim Drake and others
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1961 SNCC and CORE begin Freedom
rides by bus through the south
1963
March on Washington, King’s “I Have a
Dream” speech
1964
Three civil rights workers are killed in
Mississippi during the Freedom Summer
voter registration campaign of SNCC
Dolores Huerta registering voters
1965
The Delano grape strike begins. The mostly
Mexican NFWA joins mostly Filipino
Agricultural Workers Organizaing
Committee (AWOC)
Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audobon
Ballroom in New York by men associated
with the Nation of Islam
Civil rights march from Selma to
Montgomery Alabama
Voting Rights Act passed
1966
Farmworkers walk 300 miles from Delano
to Sacramento in a pilgrimage that ends on
Easter Sunday. NFWA signs its first
contract with Schenley. NFWA and AWOC
merge to become the United Farmworkers
Organizing Committee (UFWOC)
1967
Striking farmworkers and supporters begin
a national boycott of California table grapes
1968
Cesar Chavez fasts in Delano for 25 days.
He is joined by Sen. Robert Kennedy at the
end of the fast. The UFW campaigns for
Robert Kennedy in the California primary
Martin Luther King is assassinated in
Memphis Tennessee, while leading a
garbage workers strike
Robert Kennedy is assassinated in Los
Angeles California on the night of the
California Presidential primary
1970
UFWOC signs three-year contracts with
the Delano growers, ending the grape strike
and boycott
Salinas lettuce and vegetable growers sign
with Teamsters Union. UFW protests deal
and declares strike and boycott.
1972
The UFW admitted as full member to the
AFL-CI.
Chavez fasts in Arizona against restrictive
farm labor law. The slogan of his fast is Si
Se Puede!
1973
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When grape contracts expire, growers sign
with the Teamsters Union. Major UFW
strikes spread throughout California, with
thousands arrested and two dead
1975
California passes the Agricultural Labor
Relations Act (ALRA), the first law
recognizing the rights of farmworkers to
organize and bargain collectively. The UFW
wins a majority of elections
1978
The Teamsters Union withdraws from the
fields
President Reagan fires air traffic controllers
1981
1982
George Dukmeijian is elected governor of
California with strong support from
agriculture. Enforcement of the ALRA slows
1988
Cesar Chavez conducts a Fast for Life, his
last and longest fast, in Delano California
1993
Cesar Chavez dies in Yuma, Arizona. His
funeral in Delano CA is attended by 40,000
people.
Arturo Rodriguez is named new UFW
president
1994
Cesar Chavez is awarded a posthumous
Medal of Honor by President Clinton
1994
to
2004
UFW wins new contracts representing
workers in rose, mushroom, strawberry,
wine grape, lettuce and vegetable workers
in California, Florida and Washington state
2000
California establishes a state holiday in
honor of Cesar Chavez
2003
Cesar E. Chavez commemorative stamp is
issued by the United States Postal Service
THE FIGHT IN THE FIELDS
CONTINUES...
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