Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement

Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement PDF

Author: Roger Bruns

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2011-05-26

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 031338651X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book offers an illuminating story of how social and political change can sometimes result from the vision, leadership, and commitment of a few dedicated individuals determined not to fail. Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement chronicles the drive for a union of one of American society's most exploited groups. It is a story of courage and determination, set against the backdrop of the 1960s, a time of assassinations, war protests, civil rights battles, and reform efforts for poor and minority citizens. American farm workers were men and women on labor's last rung, living in desperate and inhumane conditions, poisoned by pesticides, and making a pittance for back-breaking work. The book shows how these migrant workers found a champion in Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union. With the help of quotes from documentary material only recently made available, it tells the story of the boycotts, marches, and strikes—including hunger strikes—used to force concessions for better conditions and pay. It also shows how the farm workers movement helped set the stage for growing Latino cultural awareness and political power.

From the Jaws of Victory

From the Jaws of Victory PDF

Author: Matt García

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0520283856

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

From the Jaws of Victory:The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement is the most comprehensive history ever written on the meteoric rise and precipitous decline of the United Farm Workers, the most successful farm labor union in United States history. Based on little-known sources and one-of-a-kind oral histories with many veterans of the farm worker movement, this book revises much of what we know about the UFW. Matt Garcia’s gripping account of the expansion of the union’s grape boycott reveals how the boycott, which UFW leader Cesar Chavez initially resisted, became the defining feature of the movement and drove the growers to sign labor contracts in 1970. Garcia vividly relates how, as the union expanded and the boycott spread across the United States, Canada, and Europe, Chavez found it more difficult to organize workers and fend off rival unions. Ultimately, the union was a victim of its own success and Chavez’s growing instability. From the Jaws of Victory delves deeply into Chavez’s attitudes and beliefs, and how they changed over time. Garcia also presents in-depth studies of other leaders in the UFW, including Gilbert Padilla, Marshall Ganz, Dolores Huerta, and Jerry Cohen. He introduces figures such as the co-coordinator of the boycott, Jerry Brown; the undisputed leader of the international boycott, Elaine Elinson; and Harry Kubo, the Japanese American farmer who led a successful campaign against the UFW in the mid-1970s.

Beyond the Fields

Beyond the Fields PDF

Author: Randy Shaw

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 0520268040

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Much has been written about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' heyday in the 1960s and '70s, but the story of their profound, ongoing influence on 21st century social justice movements has until now been left untold. This book unearths this legacy.

The Union of Their Dreams

The Union of Their Dreams PDF

Author: Miriam Pawel

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-10-06

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 1608190994

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Named one of the Best Books of 2009 by the San Francisco Chronicle A Los Angeles Times Notable Book

Trampling Out the Vintage

Trampling Out the Vintage PDF

Author: Frank Bardacke

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2012-10-09

Total Pages: 857

ISBN-13: 1781680663

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In its heyday, the United Farm Workers was an embodiment of its slogan “Yes, we can”—in the form “¡Sí, Se Puede!”—winning many labor victories, securing collective bargaining rights for farm workers, and becoming a major voice for the Latino community. Today, it is a mere shadow of its former self. Trampling Out the Vintage is the authoritative and award-winning account of the rise and fall of the United Farm Workers and its most famous and controversial leader, Cesar Chavez. Based interviews conducted over many years—with farm workers, organizers, and the opponents and friends of the UFW—the book tells a story of collective action and empowerment rich in evocative detail and stirring human interest. Beginning with the influence of the ideas of Saul Alinsky and Catholic Social Action at the union’s founding, through the UFW’s thrilling triumphs in the California fields, the drama concludes with the debilitating internal struggles that effectively crippled the union. A vivid rendering of farm work and the world of the farm worker, Trampling Out the Vintage is a dramatic reappraisal of the political trajectory of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers and an essential re-evaluation of their most tumultuous years. Winner of the 2012 Hillman Prize in Book Journalism.

Encyclopedia of Cesar Chavez

Encyclopedia of Cesar Chavez PDF

Author: Roger Bruns

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2013-04-02

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1440803811

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book is a unique, single-volume treatment offering original source material on the life, accomplishments, disappointments, and lasting legacy of one of American history's most celebrated social reformers—Cesar Chavez. Two decades after Cesar Chavez's death, this timely book chronicles the drive for a union of one of American society's most exploited groups—farm workers. Encyclopedia of Cesar Chavez is a valuable one-volume source based on the most recent research and available documentation. Historian Roger Bruns documents how Chavez and his United Farm Workers (UFW), against formidable odds, organized farm laborers into a force that for the first time successfully took on the might of California's agribusiness interests to achieve greater wages and better working conditions. Set against the backdrop of the 1960s, a time of assassinations, war protests, civil rights battles, and reform efforts for poor and minority citizens, the approximately 100 entries in this encyclopedia provide a glimpse into the events, organizations, men and women, and recurring themes that impacted the life of Cesar Chavez. It also contains a section of primary documentation—useful not only to enhance the understanding of this social and political movement, but also as source material for students.

The Fight in the Fields

The Fight in the Fields PDF

Author: Susan Ferriss

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780156005982

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Examines the fight of the United Farm Workers Union.

The Crusades of Cesar Chavez

The Crusades of Cesar Chavez PDF

Author: Miriam Pawel

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2014-03-25

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 160819714X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Winner of the California Book Award A searching portrait of an iconic figure long shrouded in myth by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of an acclaimed history of Chavez's movement. Cesar Chavez founded a labor union, launched a movement, and inspired a generation. He rose from migrant worker to national icon, becoming one of the great charismatic leaders of the 20th century. Two decades after his death, Chavez remains the most significant Latino leader in US history. Yet his life story has been told only in hagiography-until now. In the first comprehensive biography of Chavez, Miriam Pawel offers a searching yet empathetic portrayal. Chavez emerges here as a visionary figure with tragic flaws; a brilliant strategist who sometimes stumbled; and a canny, streetwise organizer whose pragmatism was often at odds with his elusive, soaring dreams. He was an experimental thinker with eclectic passions-an avid, self-educated historian and a disciple of Gandhian non-violent protest. Drawing on thousands of documents and scores of interviews, this superbly written life deepens our understanding of one of Chavez's most salient qualities: his profound humanity. Pawel traces Chavez's remarkable career as he conceived strategies that empowered the poor and vanquished California's powerful agriculture industry, and his later shift from inspirational leadership to a cult of personality, with tragic consequences for the union he had built. The Crusades of Cesar Chavez reveals how this most unlikely American hero ignited one of the great social movements of our time.

Strike!

Strike! PDF

Author: Larry Dane Brimner

Publisher: Astra Publishing House

Published: 2022-09-06

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 1635928338

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

*Discover the important history of California’s migrant workers and their strike for fair wages during the Delano grape strike in the 1960’s *Learn about Latino civil rights activist César Chávez and Filipino-American labor organizer Larry Itliong *From Sibert award-winning author Larry Dane Brimner Here is the gripping story of the Grape Strike that stirred a nation, as well as the rise of Latino civil rights activist César Chávez and the United Farm Workers of America. In the 1960’s, while the United States was at war and racial tensions were boiling over, Filipino-American workers were demanding fair wages and decent living conditions in California’s vineyards. When the workers walked off the fields in September 1965, the great Delano grape strike began. Did the signing of labor contracts with growers in 1970 mean an end to the problems of the American field laborers, or was it a short-lived truce? This nonfiction book for young readers follows the five-year long strike and also provides details about César Chávez and the United Farm Workers. Award-winning author Larry Dane Brimner’s riveting text, complemented by black-and-white archival photographs and the words of workers, organizers, and growers, tells the powerful history.

Why David Sometimes Wins

Why David Sometimes Wins PDF

Author: Marshall Ganz

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2010-09-30

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0199757852

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Why David Sometimes Wins tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' groundbreaking victory, drawing important lessons from this dramatic tale. Offering insight from a longtime movement organizer and scholar, Ganz illustrates how they had the ability and resourcefulness to devise good strategy and turn short-term advantages into long-term gains.