César Chávez
César Chávez was the leader of California farm workers who for three decades helped them achieve improved wages and working conditions as well as a measure of dignity. He also persuaded millions of Americans who may never have been on a farm, or even in California, to stop buying table grapes as a way of supporting the cause of farm workers. Chávez made visible to mothers and fathers in grocery stores across America the symbolic fingerprints left on those grapes by the hands, brown hands mostly, that had picked them. Those brown hands belonged to migrant workers: the families who sometimes spent nights in tin storage sheds or broken-down cars parked under bridges, and spent days picking grapes and other crops for wages that barely sustained life. Chávez grew up traveling from farm to farm harvesting crops, barred from speaking his native Spanish in school, unable to stay in school past the eighth grade, barred from watching a movie in the "whites only" section of a California theater—but able to dream of social justice for those on the bottom of America's social heap: Mexican American migrant workers. - U.S. Immigration and Migration Reference Library (Vol. 3: Vol. 1: Biographies. )
Checkout the unique documentary about Cesar Chavez and the Musicians who supported the Farmworker Movement which premiered during Cesar Chavez day, March 31, 2021.
A Song for Cesar features Joan Baez, Maya Angelou, and Carlos Santana, and many more
A Song for Cesar, a unique documentary about Cesar Chavez and the musicians and artists who supported the movement to improve the lives of struggling farmworkers, premieres in theaters across the country in March. The documentary also explores other facets of Cesar’s life – from childhood to his final days – revelations that, until now, have not been shared on screen.
A Song for Cesar presents a previously untold story of the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez and the farmworker movement. Through interviews, performances, stunning archival footage and photographs, and a rich original soundtrack, the film features the musicians and artists – including Joan Baez, Maya Angelou, and Carlos Santana, among others – who dedicated their time, creativity, and even reputations to peacefully advance Cesar Chavez’s movement to gain equality and justice for America’s struggling farmworkers.
This two part video focuses on the history of the United Farm Workers and the 1973 grape strike and the pesticides sprayed on the fruit we eat.
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, FOX11 Los Angeles News profiles a successful Southern California cartoonist, Lalo Alcaraz, who is using the power of the pen and pencil to fight for his community and advocate for what he believes in.
Lalo Alcaraz, creator of the popular La Cucaracha comic strip, sits down with Abby Hamblin to discuss growing up in San Diego and the issues that influenced him to become an activist through illustration.