Helen F. Chavez, 87, is the widow of civil rights and farm labor leader Cesar Chavez. She was born in the Imperial Valley town of Brawley, Calif. and lived with her family in a converted horse barn near McFarland, in the Central Valley, where they were farm workers. Helen met Cesar Chavez when they were both living in nearby Delano, Calif. during the 1940s. They married shortly after he was discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1948. Helen Chavez moved with her husband and their eight small children to Delano in 1962, where they began building what would become the United Farm Workers of America. A genuinely humble person, Helen Chavez, whose strong leadership also underlined the UFW, insisted on remaining in the background while Cesar Chavez arguably became the most important Latino social and political figure of the 20th century. She still resides in the small wood-frame house she shared with her husband at what is now the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument at La Paz in Keene, Calif.
Blog Post List
May 8, 2015
Cuando mi esposo César Chávez y yo ayudamos a fundar la union de campesinos ("United Farm Workers" en inglés) en 1962, quedó claro que el sindicato era para hombres y mujeres por igual. Por eso, que mejor ocasión que el Día de las Madres para recordar a las mujeres y madres por las que sigue luchando UFW. En ningún lugar necesitan mayor protección las trabajadoras agrícolas que en Gerawan Farming . Es una empresa gigante que tiene más de 5.000 trabajadores. Cultivan uvas y árboles frutales en el Condado de Fresno que se venden bajo la etiqueta Prima. Por favor lean estas historias de algunas...
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May 8, 2015
When my husband, Cesar Chavez, and I helped begin the United Farm Workers in 1962, it was clear that the union was equally for women and men. So what better time than Mother’s Day to remember the women and mothers the UFW is still fighting for. Nowhere do women farm workers need more protection than at Gerawan Farming. This is a giant company with 5,000 workers. It grows grapes and tree fruit in Fresno County, and sells under its Prima label. Please listen to these stories from women workers at Gerawan. Maria Gerawan.jpg Gerawan sprayed the grape fields with chemicals at 5:40 a.m. We went to...
MomsRising
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