Cesar E. Chavez Week
Mester 3 – Week 9
INSTRUCTIONS
Purpose:
Time:
Materials:
Assignment:
ESLRS:
Students will learn some of the important core values of
Cesar E. Chavez
3 days
Websites links, The Fight in the Fields (Library)
Students will write a short story about Cesar E. Chavez.
Critical thinker, self-directed learner
Day 1:
1.) Begin by asking the class what they know about Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar E.
Chavez, Mohandas Gandhi, or Susan B. Anthony.
2.) Explain to the class that they will be working for three days about Cesar E. Chavez and
how he led the efforts to improve working conditions for California’s migrant farm
workers and formed the United Farm Worker Union. Chavez was committed to nonviolent protest. He conducted several fasts and led a number of strikes and grape boycotts
to further the cause of field workers.
Day 2:
3.) Display the biographies of Martin Lutheran King, Mohandas Gandi, and Susana B.
Anthony on the projector. Let the students know that these three leaders’ philosophies
were the social cause for which he or she was fighting, and some information about the
specific methods he or she used for peaceful protest.
4.) Next, have students work, in groups or with a partner, on a creative writing piece. Have
students imagine how history might have been different if this person had never lived, or
had held a different philosophy.
5.) Then, ask the class to do a research on Cesar E. Chavez. And to find information about
his philosophy, the social cause for which he was fighting and some of the specific
methods he used for peaceful protest
Day 3:
.
6.) At the end of class, have the students written a short story (or alternately, a play or poem)
about Cesar E. Chavez... Once the students are finished they can place this in their
graduation portfolios.
7). Provide the following Websites to students for reference
Martin Luther King Jr. – Biographical
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-A pril 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his
name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960
until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia,
graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College,
a distinguished Negro* institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After
three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president
of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he
enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and
receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon
intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family
In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the
executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading
organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of
the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott
described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On
December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws
requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King
was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a
Negro leader of the first rank.
In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to
provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took
from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968,
King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was
injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he
led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he
called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro
revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful
march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he
conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested
upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named
Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but
also a world figure.
At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize.
When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the
furtherance of the civil rights movement.
Mahatma Gandhi
Vinay Lal
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the town of
Porbander in the state of what is now Gujarat on 2 October
1869. He had his schooling in nearby Rajkot, where his father
served as the adviser or prime minister to the local ruler. Though
India was then under British rule, over 500 kingdoms,
principalities, and states were allowed autonomy in domestic
and internal affairs: these were the so-called 'native states'.
Rajkot was one such state.
Gandhi later recorded the early years of his life in his
extraordinary autobiography, The Story of My Experimentswith
Copyright: Vithalbhai
Jhaveri/ GandhiServe
Truth. His father died before Gandhi could finish his
schooling, and at thirteen he was married to Kasturba [or Kasturbai], who was of the
same age as Mohandas himself . In 1888 Gandhi set sail for England, where he had
decided to pursue a degree in law. Though his elders objected, Gandhi could not be
prevented from leaving; and it is said that his mother, a devout woman, made him
promise that he would keep away from wine, women, and meat during his stay abroad.
Gandhi left behind his son Harilal, then a few months old.
In London, Gandhi encountered theosophists, vegetarians, and
others who were disenchanted not only with industrialism, but with
the legacy of Enlightenment thought. They themselves represented
the fringe elements of English society. Gandhi was powerfully
attracted to them, as he was to the texts of the major religious
traditions; and ironically it is in London that he was introduced to
the Bhagavad Gita. Here, too, Gandhi showed determination and
single-minded pursuit of his purpose, and accomplished his
objective of finishing his degree from the Inner Temple. He was
called to the bar in 1891, and even enrolled in the High Court of
London; but later that year he left for India.
Biography of Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was born February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. She was
brought up in a Quaker family with long activist traditions. Early in her life she
developed a sense of justice and moral zeal.
After teaching for fifteen years, she became active in temperance. Because she was a
woman, she was not allowed to speak at temperance rallies. This experience, and her
acquaintance with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, led her to join the women's rights movement
in 1852. Soon after, she dedicated her life to woman suffrage.
Ignoring opposition and abuse, Anthony traveled, lectured, and canvassed across the
nation for the vote. She also campaigned for the abolition of slavery, the right for women
to own their own property and retain their earnings, and she advocated for women's labor
organizations. In 1900, Anthony persuaded the University of Rochester to admit women.
Anthony, who never married, was aggressive and compassionate by nature. She had a
keen mind and a great ability to inspire. She remained active until her death on March 13,
1906.
Websites:
•
Meet Amazing Americans: César Chávez
The Library of Congress offers this brief description of César Chavez' work. The page
includes a timeline and links to related information.
•
The Fight in the Fields: César Chavez and the Farm workers' Struggle
This resource, based on the PBS film The Fight in the Fields, provides information on
Chavez' struggle. Features include information about the film, a timeline, and links to
related resources.
•
César Chavez Middle School Biography
This biography, from the California Department of Education, is intended for
intermediate students. The detailed account includes related images.
•
Labor Hall of Fame
This Internet activity from SCORE encourages upper grade students to select from 11
American labor leaders, including Chavez, and to create museum exhibits highlighting
their accomplishments