YOUNG CESAR E. CHAVEZ: THE EARLY YEARS OF AN AMERICAN HERO

by Rebecca Valbuena

You pick fruit from the produce stand in the grocery store . . . but did you ever wonder who picked it in the first place? Plants produce fruits and vegetables, but people must do the harvesting. Many of these people are migrant farm workers. They move from place to place to pick the food as it ripens.

The food we eat every day is the result of farm workers' labor in the fields. Yet, in the history of our nation, migrant farm workers have not always been treated fairly. Not long ago, migrant families labored in the fields from dawn until dusk. Often hunched over in hot, muddy fields, using hoes that were too short, they walked up and down, row after row, to care for and harvest the crops. It was backbreaking work. Still, they could not earn enough money to buy enough food, clothing, and shelter. Sometimes, they lived in converted chicken coops or storage sheds, where dozens of families shared one outhouse. Fresh water came from a nearby irrigation ditch. Many farm owners were more interested in making a profit than in the fair treatment and health of their workers.

For a time, there seemed to be little hope for change in the living conditions of migrant farm workers. Then, a hero rose from the fields. As a child, Cesar E. Chavez worked diligently alongside his family under grim conditions. As he grew up, he became convinced that the gatherers of America's food deserved better. Through lessons he learned from his family and friends, and from his own bitter experience, he set out to improve the lives of farm workers everywhere. His life story reminds us of the courage, dedication, and sacrifice necessary to promote peaceful change and improve the world.

When Cesar Chavez was born in 1927, his family had been in the United States for almost 40 years. His grandfather, called Papa Chayo, had come to Arizona from Mexico in 1888. The growing family settled on 80 acres of farmland. Librado Chavez, Cesar's father, lived on the farm until he married Juana Estrada and became a businessman. When their first child was born on March 31, 1927, they named him Cesar Estrada Chavez.

In the 1930s, our country suffered an economic depression. Millions of people were out of work. Unable to make payments on a bank loan, Cesar's father was forced to sell his store. After this loss, the Chavez family moved into Papa Chayo's old adobe house. Cesar's grandmother, Mama Tella, still lived there and welcomed the family back.

Cesar always remembered life on his grandmother's farm as a good time in his life. A large, loving family surrounded him and helped mold his personal values, morals, and beliefs. Cesar listened each night to Mama Tella's prayers and lessons from the Bible. Deeply important to the family, the Roman Catholic faith played an even greater role in Cesar's life as he grew older.

Cesar's parents believed in strict discipline, yet they expressed love tenderly. Though Mrs. Chavez could neither read nor write, she gave good consejos (advice) to her four children and taught with dichos (proverbs). Her stories and sayings always had a moral lesson about honesty and obedience. She taught Cesar about nonviolence and told him he must always "turn the other cheek." She also taught him about sacrifice and giving to others. Cesar's father instilled in Cesar the belief that it is honorable to stand up for your rights and the rights of others. Through example, his father also taught Cesar to value responsibility and hard work. Later, Cesar said, "It came naturally to us to hope for the future and to want to make things better in the world. It seemed so obvious that God wanted more equality and more justice, and that God expected people to work for these things."

Cesar attended school while living at Mama Tella's—not a pleasant experience for him. There, he first experienced the pain of prejudice and racism. Anglo-American students made fun of the Chavez children's accents, and teachers punished them for speaking in Spanish. Worse than physical punishment was the pain Cesar felt at the teachers' rejection of his language and heritage.

In 1938, Cesar's father lost his land, and the family was forced to join the many thousands of men, women, and children who traveled throughout California in search of work. The Chavez family followed the crops as migrant farm workers, a hard life.

Work in the fields was extremely difficult. On one farm, Cesar and his family picked peas. Like picking lettuce, this was one of several jobs known as "stoop labor." Walking rows of peas while bent at the waist was a great strain on the back. The Chavez family spent hours harvesting peas, but when they carried their load to the end of the field for weighing, they were told that the grower wanted only "good peas." The family had to go back to the fields to pick more, and after three hours, the entire family earned only 20 cents! The housing camps were dirty, cramped, rundown shacks, often with no running water, electricity, or bathrooms. Month after month, the Chavez family was on the move. They lived in crowded conditions and never had enough food. Cesar went to school when he could, but because the family traveled so much, he was never in one school for long. These were tough times for farm owners and farm workers, but every part of life was hard for migrant workers. They were cheated by many farm owners and treated without respect or human dignity. Cesar learned at a young age how the farm workers suffered unfair treatment and lived in poverty.

Haunting experiences of racism would later join Cesar's memories of discrimination in school. He remembered the humiliation he felt when he realized that the "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed" signs on stores were referring to him. Once, Cesar tried to buy a hamburger in a diner that had a sign that read "White Trade Only." The girl behind the counter laughed at him and said, "We don't serve Mexicans here!" He left in tears. The pain of prejudice stayed with Cesar his entire life. As an adult, he remained committed to making all people feel as if they were worthy human beings regardless of the color of their skin or the amount of money they had.

In 1942, when Cesar's father was hurt in a car accident, Cesar had to leave school to become the primary money earner for his family. He continued to witness the suffering and injustices in the lives of migrant farm workers.

His future experience in the United States Navy, followed by continued farm work and the eventual meeting of important individuals, caused this brave man to fight for change in farm working conditions. The qualities that Cesar E. Chavez had developed while growing up led him to become an internationally known leader in the struggle for justice for farm workers.

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