cesare Estrada Chavez an American civil rights activist and labor leader was born in Yuma Arizona on March 31st 1927 the Chavez family lost their Arizona homestead in the Great Depression and in the late 1930s moved to Northern California Cesar and his family became migrant farmworkers thrust into the industrialized agriculture of California States are dropped out of school after the eighth grade to help support his family by working in the fields sister joined the Navy right after World War two when he saw places he never was seen so it did open his eyes up to the world very much after the Navy Chavez returned to the fields and became a grassroots organizer for a Latino civil rights group he then left the group and formed the National Farm Workers Association now known as the United Farm Workers of America with a goal of unionizing farmworkers Cesar believed that the movement he found it had to be more than just a union that was solely concerned with improving wages hours and working conditions although the UFW certainly did that but it also needed to address the crippling dilemmas that farmworkers face in the community after they came home from work most people were poor they didn't have access to good housing or health care or education Chavez was adamant that his new Union follow a strict policy of using only nonviolent tactics as a means of negotiation while the organization was still in its infancy ufw embarked upon one of the most influential boycotts in US history the boycott of all California table grapes the grape boycott really took off in 68 Cesar and studied history he knew that 400 years farmworker strikes were brutally crushed and that the agricultural industry which in California is one of them richest in his powerful industries in the state controlled much of rural California so what Cesar needed to do was take the fight from heels where the odds were stacked against the foreign workers and move it to the cities where the farm workers at least had a chance over the next few years led by say czar Chavez the farm workers would boycott protest march and fast their way to a collective bargaining agreement which guaranteed field workers among other things increased pay and the right to unionize he was responsible for a lot of the labor pains that we see today the protections the benefits but the basic right to organize an affiliate as the head of the United Farm Workers of America labor rights was not the only cause championed by Chavez Cesar's commitment to social justice went far beyond the farm workers in the 1960s he was a strong and vocal opponent of the Vietnam War in 1970 Cesar was an early and vocal supporter gay rights also not a popular position especially at that time among his own constituency say czar Chavez died in his sleep on April 23rd 1993 he was survived by his wife Helen their eight children and 31 grandchildren in 1994 he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1975 there was a reporter with a national news magazine following Cesar around for several days rallies marches picket lines and in an interview she asked him what accounts for all the affection and respect that farmworkers show you in public as Cesar pause for a moment and then he smiled his easy smile and he said the feeling is mutual Mark Twain is now thought of as America's first celebrity because he was so good at capturing the public imagination and it became important to him to have a public image