Cesar Chavez And What Made Him An Effective Leader

Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader, community organizer, and Latino American civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, later renamed the United Farm Workers union. Cesar chaves was born in March 31,1927. He passed away in April 27,1993. He was a prominent union leader and labor organizer. Hardened by his early experience as a migrant worker, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. Stressing nonviolent methods. His other influences were the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi and American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior. Mister Chavez said his real education began when he met the Catholic leader Father Donald McDonnell.

During the course of his education, Chávez attended over thirty-seven schools. In 1942, he graduated from eighth grade. He did not return to high school because his father became injured in an accident and he did not want his mother Juana to have to work in the fields. That's why he dedicated his life to improving the treatment, pay, and working conditions of farm workers. As he became more and more involved in the fight against racial and economic discrimination, Chávez, along with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962.

In March 1946, Chavez enlisted in the United States Navy, and was sent to the Naval Training Center San Diego. in July he was stationed at the U.S. base in Saipan, and six months later moved to Guam, where he was promoted to the rank of seaman first class. He was then stationed to San Francisco, where he decided to leave the Navy, receiving an honorable discharge in January 1948. Relocating to Delano, California, where his family had settled, he returned to working as an agricultural laborer.

He befriended two social justice activists, Fred Ross and Father Donald McDonnell, both European-Americans whose activism was primarily within the Mexican-American community. Chavez helped Ross establish a chapter of his Community Service Organization (CSO) in San Jose, and joined him in voter registration drives. He was soon voted vice president of the CSO chapter. He also helped McDonnell construct the first purpose-built church in Sal Si Puedes, the Our Lady of Guadalupe church, which was opened in December 1953. In turn, McDonnell lent Chavez books, encouraging the latter to develop a love of reading. Among the books were biographies of the saint Francis of Assisi, the U.S. labour organizers John L. Lewis and Eugene V. Debs, and the Indian qindependence activist Mahatma Gandhi, introducing Chavez to the ideas of non violent protest.

In 2004, the National Chavez Center was opened on the UFW national headquarters campus in Keene by the César E. Chávez Foundation. It currently consists of a visitor center, memorial garden and his grave site. When it is fully completed, the 187-acre site will include a museum and conference center to explore and share Chavez's work.In 1959, Chavez moved to Los Angeles to become the CSO's national director. He, his wife, and (now) eight children settled into the largely Mexican neighborhood of Boyle Heights.He found the CSO's financial situation was bad, with even his own salary in jeopardy. He laid off several organizers to keep the organization afloat.He tried to organise a life insurance scheme among CSO members to raise funds, but this project failed to materialise. Under Chavez, the CSO secured financing from wealthier donors and organisations, usually to finance specific projects for a set period of time. The California American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations for instance paid it $12,000 to conduct voter registration schemes in six counties with high Mexican populations. The wealthy benefactor Katy Peake then offered it $50,000 over three years to organise California's farm workers.Under Chavez's leadership, the CSO assisted the successful campaign to get the government to extend the state pension to non-citizens who were permanent residents. At the ninth annual CSO convention in March 1962, Chavez resigned.

Chavez entered a relationship with Helen Fabela, who soon became pregnant.They married in Reno, Nevada in October 1948; it was a double wedding, with Chavez's sister Rita marrying her fiancé at the same ceremony. By early 1949, Chavez and his new wife had settled in the Sal Si Puedes neighborhood of San Jose, where many of his other family members were now living. Their first child, Fernando, was born there in February 1949; a second, Sylvia, followed in February 1950; and then a third, Linda, in January 1951. The latter had been born shortly after they had relocated to Crescent City, where Chavez was employed in the lumber industry. They then returned to San Jose, where Chavez worked as an apricot picker and then as a lumber handler for the General Box Company.

Chavez wanted to ensure that he could control the NFWA's direction and to that end ensured that the role of the group's officers was largely ceremonial, with control of the group being primarily in the hands of the staff, headed by himself. At the NFWA's second convention, held in Delano in 1963, Chavez was retained as its general director while the role of the presidency was scrapped. That year, he began collecting membership dues, before establishing an insurance policy for FWA members. Later in the year he launched a credit union for NFWA members, having gained a state charter after the federal government refused him one.