Against the backdrop of California's bountiful fields stands Cesar Chavez carrying a burning torch, serving as a constant reminder that the fight for farm workers' rights goes on even after his death.The Cesar Chavez Student Center's mural of the revolutionary labor leader is especially symbolic for those who continue to live and work in the midst of those fields.
For Sylvia Miranda, 22, whose father works in the strawberry and lettuce farms of Salinas Valley, Chavez's movement remains relevant in her family's struggle to improve working conditions."It's not over," Miranda said. "People are still working in the fields exposed to the same pesticides Chavez dedicated his life to fighting against."
Her family has lived in the small farming community of the Salinas Valley since 1979.
Living near the fields, she recalls waking up every Saturday morning to the sound of helicopters spraying pesticides. Her father suffers from skin irritation on his arms, which she now believes is the result of working and living so close to the chemicals used in the pesticides.
She said Chavez's legacy continues because it was his boycotts, marches and fasts, that first brought attention to the plight of farm workers, like her father, to the public.
Chavez was among the first to link farm workers' health to pesticides used on crops. In the 1960s, he negotiated union contracts that prohibited growers from using the toxic DDT. His protests also brought publicity to the occurrences of cancer in the San Joaquin Valley, which he contended are caused by agricultural chemicals.
One of Chavez's biggest successes was the passage of the Agriculture Labor Relations Act in 1975. The landmark legislation, written in part by Chavez, guaranteed farm workers the right to organize and bargain collectively.
Chavez often went on hunger fasts for many days as a nonviolent protest against repressive labor laws. As president of the United Farm Workers of America, he tried to make sure the movement was characterized by peaceful protests. However, the effort for a nonviolent struggle was marred by several murders of farm workers on the picket line.
In focusing attention on migrant workers, Chavez also helped bring to light the struggle of millions of urban Mexican-Americans looking for better housing, more employment opportunities and increased political representation.
Chavez caught the attention of national figures, including Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The New York senator called Chavez "one of the heroic figures of our times."
Chavez was born March 31, 1927 on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona. His parents lost the farm in the Depression and the family was forced to move, taking work where they could find it in fields and vineyards throughout the Southwest.
Chavez began working in farms at age ten. He left school after the eighth grade to help support his family and never graduated from high school. He served in the Navy for two years during the second World War.
From 1952 to 1962, he worked in the San Jose area with Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants who were mistreated by police and immigration authorities.
In 1962, he left to form the National Farm Workers Association for Latino and Chicano farm workers who had few of the basic labor rights common to other workers. At that time, farm workers in California had no legal right to vote for union representation.The NFWA later joined forces with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee.
After the merge, the UFWOC began a national boycott of grapes, wine and lettuce from 1965 to 1970 to pressure growers into signing union contracts. In 1972, the UFWOC received its charter from the AFL-CIO and became the United Farm Workers of America.
In 1988, Chavez fasted for 36 days, from July 16 to August 21, to protest the use of agricultural pesticides. It was the only fast that severely affected his health.
On April 23, 1993, Chavez died in a small farming town near his birthplace in Arizona. On August 8, 1994, President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded Chavez the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Over the years, Chavez has had many parks and schools in the state named after him. Most recently, Chavez was honored in a ceremony in San Francisco when Army Street was officially renamed Cesar Chavez Street.