Resolution In Support of a
Peralta Community College District
Cesar E. Chavez Holiday
Whereas, Cesar E. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 on a small farm near
Yuma, Arizona, the grandson of Mexican immigrants who moved to the United
States in the 1880’s1, and
Whereas, after his family lost their farm during the Great Depression, Cesar E.
Chavez moved with his family to California, where the entire family worked as
farm laborers, often living in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, exposed to
pesticides and moving so frequently that by the time Chavez dropped out of
school in eighth grade to help support his family he had attended 37 schools2,
and
Whereas, as a teenager, Cesar E. Chavez fought discrimination and was
arrested for sitting in a “Whites Only” section of a Delano movie theater3, and
Whereas, as a young adult after serving in the U.S. Navy, Cesar E. Chavez
returned to work in the California fields where he witnessed the regular use of
immigration raids as a way to intimidate farm workers and prevent them from
organizing for better pay and working conditions4, and
Whereas, in 1951 Cesar E. Chavez first worked as an organizer for the
Community Services Organization in Oakland, California5, and soon took his
organizing skills to the fields of rural California, and
Whereas, in 1962 Cesar E. Chavez founded the National Farm Workers
Association (later called the United Farm Workers of America) to protect the
rights of migrant farm workers to fair pay and better working conditions6, and
1
"Cesar Estrada Chavez." American Decades. Gale Research, 1998.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
2
"Cesar Estrada Chavez." American Decades. Gale Research, 1998.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
3
"Cesar Chavez." Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Book I. Edited by Ray B. Brown. Gale Research, 1990.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
4
"Cesar Chavez." Contemporary Hispanic Biography. Vol. 2. Gale Group, 2002.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
5
"Cesar Chavez." Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Book I. Edited by Ray B. Brown. Gale Research, 1990.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
Whereas, Cesar E. Chavez gave our nation and each of us a unique example to
live our lives by, a selfless dedication to the rights of farm workers and all
workers, to economic justice, civil rights, environmental justice, peace,
nonviolence, and empowerment of the poor and disenfranchised, and
Whereas, in 2000, the California State Legislature approved and Governor Gray
Davis signed into law SB984 establishing a state holiday in honor Cesar E.
Chavez7; therefore,
Be it resolved, that the Laney College Faculty Senate requests that the Peralta
Community College District honor Cesar E. Chavez for his tireless,
transformative work on behalf of the citizens of the State of California by
declaring March 31 an official district holiday, and,
Be it further resolved, that the Laney College Faculty Senate urges faculty to
provide opportunities for instruction on the life and contributions of Cesar E.
Chavez and the history of the farm labor movement in the United States.
Laney Faculty Senate
Approved November 3, 2009
6
"Cesar Chavez." Contemporary Hispanic Biography. Vol. 2. Gale Group, 2002.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
7
Senate Bill 984. California State Legislature. Signed into law by Governor Gray Davis August 18, 2000.