Commemorating the 98th anniversary of the birth of Cesar Chavez on March 31, 2025.
WHEREAS, Americans across the country will pause on March 31,
2025, Cesar Chavez Day, to pay tribute to the inspiring life and
achievements of the founder and longtime leader of the United Farm
Workers of America on the anniversary of his birth; and
WHEREAS, Born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona, and raised in
California, Cesar Estrada Chavez spent much of his youth as a
migrant laborer; as a Latino and a farmworker, he learned firsthand
about the indignities of second-class citizenship and the unhealthy
working and living conditions endured by those who tended the
fields; and
WHEREAS, After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1948,
Cesar Chavez returned to California, and in 1948, he married Helen
Fabela; four years later, he became a community organizer for the
Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group that
focused most of its work in urban areas, and by the late 1950s, he
had become its national director; and
WHEREAS, When in 1962 the CSO declined to organize California
farmworkers, Mr. Chavez and his colleague Dolores Huerta left the
organization to found the National Farm Workers Association, a
forerunner of the UFW; their fledgling union gained national
prominence just three years later when it offered support to
workers who were striking against California’s grape growers; in
addition to assuming leadership of the strike, Mr. Chavez launched
a successful nationwide consumers’ boycott of nonunion grapes; and
WHEREAS, By the end of the five-year-long strike, the UFW had
organized all of the California table-grape industry and negotiated
the first collective bargaining agreements between American
farmworkers and corporations; in 1975, Mr. Chavez and the UFW
succeeded in securing the passage of California’s Agricultural
Labor Relations Act, the first law in U.S. history granting
farmworkers the right to unionize and bargain collectively;
numerous other gains achieved under his leadership included the
establishment of a farmworkers’ medical plan, pension plan, and
credit union, as well as the National Farm Workers Service Center,
whose projects have included the development of affordable housing,
health clinics, cooperatives, and a retirement home; and
WHEREAS, Over the course of his life, Cesar Chavez sought to
advance La Causa, the movement, through nonviolent means–through
strikes, pickets, and boycotts; on several occasions he also
undertook lengthy fasts to draw public attention to the
farmworkers’ struggle; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Chavez continued to lead the UFW until his death
on April 23, 1993; more than 50,000 people from throughout the
nation gathered to mourn him at his funeral, indicating the
far-reaching impact he had made on American society; and
WHEREAS, Since that time, numerous schools, streets,
scholarships, monuments, buildings, and parks have been named in
his memory, a number of U.S. cities have initiated annual
celebrations in tribute to his life, and several states, including
Texas, have declared his birthday, March 31, a state holiday; in
1994, Mr. Chavez was posthumously awarded the nation’s highest
honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and
WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez chose to devote his life to the pursuit
of social and economic justice through nonviolent means, and his
courage and steadfastness in this great work brought improved
health, greater security, and hope for a brighter future to
countless people; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 89th Texas
Legislature hereby honor the life of Cesar Chavez and join the
citizens of the Lone Star State in commemorating the 98th
anniversary of his birth on March 31, 2025.
