DO NOW
 What was the main goal of each of the
following?
Civil Rights Act of 1964
24th Amendment
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Fair Housing Act of 1968
 Take out your homework if you have not already
turned it in to me.
Learning Goals
 EQ
 Did the Civil Rights Movement
extend beyond African-Americans?
 LT
 Identify nonviolent tactics of Cesar
Chavez and the UFW.
 Explain how Mexican-American
farmers fought for Civil Rights.
 POU
 I can identify and explain the tactics
used in the United Farm Workers
Movement.
Cesar Chavez &
the United Farm
Workers
Movement
1965-1975
Cesar Chavez
1927-1993
Born in Yuma, Arizona in 1927,
Cesar Chavez spent his
childhood as a migrant worker.
In the 1940s, he moved to San
Jose, California where he
married Helen Favila.
Chavez joined the Community
Service Organization and
learned grass roots organizing
methods.
He became general director of the
national CSO, but in 1962 resigned
and moved to Delano, where he
organized the National Farm Workers
Association.
Their most effective tactic was the
boycott. The NFWA urged supporters
not to buy products from companies
that did not sign a contract with the
union.
Civil Rights
 1964- The bracero program finally ends, in part
due to pressure form the NFWA and its supporters.
(The bracero program had allowed Mexican
immigrants to come to the US as temporary
workers.)
 That same year, President Lyndon Johnson signs
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The new law prohibits
racial discrimination and establishes affirmative
action programs to remove discrimination in
advertising, recruitment, hiring, job classification,
promotion, wages and condition of employment.
Timeline of Events
 1965- On September 8, Filipino farm workers from
the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee
strike the Di Giorgio Corporation, a large grape
grower in the San Joaquin Valley of California,
demanding recognition of their organization and
higher wages.
 The following week, Chavez and Dolores Huerta
lead the NFWA in a vote to join the Agricultural
Workers organizing a strike.
 1966- From March 17 to April 11, Cesar Chavez
and the National Farm Workers Association
march from Delano to the California capital in
Sacramento to publicize their strike. They arrive
on Easter Sunday.
NFWAUFW
 On August 22, the NFWA and the
Agricultural Workers Organizing
Committee unite to form the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee
(UFW). Shortly thereafter, the Di Giorgio
Corporation grants the UFW
membership a contract.
 In 1967,the United Farm Workers
targeted the Giumarra Vineyards
Corporation (the largest producer of
table grapes in the US), boycotting all
table grapes.
 After five years, they finally obtained a
contract with the grape growers. The
Union turned its attention to the lettuce
growers of the Salinas Valley.
Hunger Strike
 1968 - On February 15, Chavez
begins a twenty-five day hunger
strike at Forty Acres, near Delano,
California.
 Shortly thereafter, he appears in
court to respond to an injunction
aimed at prohibiting picketing by
the UFW. Chavez is too weak from
his hunger strike to testify, and the
incident gains national attention
and sympathy.
 On March 10, he breaks his fast at
a Catholic mass in Delano’s public
park with 4,000 supporters at his
side, including Senator Robert
Kennedy.
Outcomes
 1970- The UFW wins a major victory when 40
growers in California’s Coachella Valley ask to
negotiate contracts with the union.
 Negotiations result in better pay, a union hiring
hall, creation of formal grievance procedures,
restrictions on the use of pesticides, rehiring of
strikers, and employer contributions to a health
fund.