Cesar Chavez Timeline

By Register Staff

1927 -- Cesar Estrada Chavez born on March 31, in a tiny town near Yuma, Arizona.

1942 -- With his brother and sister, he began to pick lettuce and beets with the help of a short hoe, a back-breaking practice that that later on would be declared illegal with the help of Chavez's advocacy.

1946 -- Formed his first labor union, the National Agricultural Workers Union.

1948 -- Chavez's family joined the National Farm Workers Labor Union and participated in a strike in a cotton field.

1952 -- Chavez was recruited for Saul Alinsky's Community Service Organization, an activist group that fought racial and economic discrimination against Chicano residents.

1958-1959 -- In Oxnard, Chavez organized strikes, marches and a boycott of merchants to protest the lack of jobs for local residents.

1962 -- Chavez left the CSO and moved to Delano, where he founded the Farm Workers Association. He opened a credit union to help members with financial emergencies. Chavez established the National Farm Workers Association.

1965 -- The NFWA and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee started a campaign to boycott grapes to protest working conditions in the vineyards.

1966 -- In March, Chavez started a march of 75 persons from Delano to the Capitol Building in Sacramento -- 340 miles -- to bring to attention the problems of workers.

1968 -- Chavez started a fast of 25 days in February to symbolize that he would uphold his promise for a non-violent movement. Later that year, Chavez asked for a national boycott of all California grapes after workers start to get sick from pesticides. The union begins to investigate the dangers of pesticides.

1969 -- UFW declared a National Grape Boycott Day. Shipments of table grapes from California were detained in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal and Toronto.

1970 -- Chavez was imprisoned in December for challenging a judicial order against the boycott.

1973 -- UFW celebrated its first convention in Fresno. Later that year, the United States Supreme Court declared use of the short-handed hoe unlawful.

1984 -- Chavez announced a new grape boycott to emphasize the residues of pesticide on the fruit.

1988 -- Chavez fasted for 36 days in August to protest the use of pesticides.

1992 -- In the Salinas Valley, Chavez directed a march of more than 10,000 workers for better work conditions.

1993 -- On April 23, after a fast of several days, Chavez died in his sleep.

1994 -- Chavez was awarded a Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, by President Bill Clinton.

2000 -- California Legislature approved Cesar Chavez Day as a paid holiday.

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