Cesar Chavez

Biography

Cesar Chavez was a labor unionist and political activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers, a movement that aimed to improve the lives of farmworkers through collective action and social change. Born in Arizona to a Mexican American family, Chavez was a manual laborer before joining the US Navy and later became a prominent leader in California's labor movement. He led the successful Delano grape strike of 1965-1970, a pivotal moment in the fight for farmworkers' rights. Chavez's ideology combined leftist approaches with Catholic social teaching.