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Celebration of Labor Leader Cesar Chavez through Photo Exhibition at William & Mary

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William & Mary University celebrated Latinx Heritage Month with a photo exhibition commemorating the life of Cesar Chavez.

The exhibition “Cesar Chavez: Legacy of a Leader” displayed 30 historic black and white photographs from the National Chavez Center archives. The exhibition gave an overview of the life and work of Cesar Chavez, beginning with his early life on an Arizona homestead and highlighting his efforts to unite farm workers through community organizing, labor strikes, marches, and boycotts. Notably, the exhibition focused on the 1965 Delano, California, grape strike, a turning point in the American labor movement.

The Muscarelle Museum of Art’s director of engagement, Steve Prince, and facilities and exhibitions manager, Kevin Gilliam, curated the exhibition. The Center for Student Diversity organized it with the aim of acknowledging and celebrating the achievements and contributions of Latinx students, faculty, and staff to the William & Mary community.

Andres Chavez, the executive director of the National Chavez Center and Cesar Chavez’s grandson, stated, “Partnerships like this are an opportunity for us to re-introduce Cesar Chavez to modern audiences and in modern contexts.” He added that Cesar’s legacy is widespread and nuanced, and they are thrilled to share it with students and scholars from across the United States as they lead up to the centennial of Cesar Chavez’s birth in 2027.

The grand opening of “Cesar Chavez: Legacy of a Leader” was held on September 22 and featured a keynote speech by Arturo Rodriguez, president emeritus of the UFW, who was its president for 25 years after Cesar Chavez’s death.

Eric Romero, director of archives at the National Chavez Center, and Prince conducted a community flag-making event with students at Lafayette High School. The event was based on the historic UFW work of boycotts, strikes, and marches. Members and supporters of the UFW would gather in community spaces to design and produce picket signs, banners, and flags for the movement. According to Romero, “This show is a great opportunity for us to strengthen our outreach programs and begin sharing our organizational archives to find meaningful historical documents that showcase the legacy of Cesar Chavez.”

Looking to learn more about the archives at the National Chavez Center? The National Chavez Center believes in sharing its history by connecting with diverse communities. For more information, please contact Eric Romero at eromero@chavezfoundation.org.

About William & Mary

The second-oldest institution of higher learning in the country and a cutting-edge research university. Building on more than 300 years of innovation and excellence, William & Mary transcends the boundaries between research and teaching, teaching and learning, learning and living. As a “Public Ivy” — one of only eight in the nation — we offer a world-class education at an exceptional value.

Credit: This news post was originally published by William & Mary.

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La Campesina’s “Punto de Vista” broadcasts live from the White House

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La Campesina’s “Punto de Vista” broadcasted live from the White House this past Cesar Chavez Day. Program Director Maria Barquin and La Campesina radio personality Tony “El Tigre” sat down with White House staffers Luisana Perez Fernández, director of Hispanic media, and Jennifer Molina, deputy communications director, to discuss their current positions and reflect on their personal journeys to the White House. In conjunction with Cesar Chavez Day celebrations, La Campesina highlighted the farm worker delegation, which included UFW Foundation Chief Executive Officer Diana Tellefson Torres and United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, accompanied by representatives of the nation’s largest agricultural states to discuss issues affecting farm workers. Listen to the entire episode by visiting: Podcast – Campesina Network

From left, La Campesina radio personality Tony “El Tigre, “Luisana Perez Fernández, White House director of Hispanic media, Jennifer Molina, White House deputy communications director, and Maria Barquin, communications fund program director.

From left, La Campesina radio personality Tony “El Tigre, “Luisana Perez Fernández, White House director of Hispanic media, Jennifer Molina, White House deputy communications director, and Maria Barquin, communications fund program director.

 

From left, Maria Barquin, communications fund program director, stands with Julie Rodriguez, senior advisor to President Biden at the White House and Cesar’s granddaughter, and La Campesina radio personality Tony “El Tigre” near a bust of Martin Luther King Jr.

From left, Maria Barquin, communications fund program director, stands with Julie Rodriguez, senior advisor to President Biden at the White House and Cesar’s granddaughter, and La Campesina radio personality Tony “El Tigre” near a bust of Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Chavez Foundation’s Maria Barquin and Tony “El Tigre” prepare for a live broadcast of “Punto de Vista” from the White House.

Chavez Foundation’s Maria Barquin and Tony “El Tigre” prepare for a live broadcast of “Punto de Vista” from the White House.

The Communications Fund’s flagship program, Radio Campesina (La Campesina), was founded by Cesar Chavez in 1983 to produce community-building programs while also providing great entertainment as a means of encouraging listeners to interact, engage and share resources. The Communications Fund reaches millions of people each month through multiple platforms, engaging a multi-generational, multi-cultural audience with current high-quality programming that entertains, informs, and inspires.

 

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Fred Ross Jr.’s matchless organizing talents empowered farm and other workers

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Fred Ross Jr.’s matchless organizing talents empowered farm and other workers

It is with profound sadness that the Cesar Chavez Foundation mourns the passing of Fred Ross Jr., whose six-decade-long organizing career empowered poor and oppressed workers to overcome bigotry and exploitation through self-organization and collective action. His wife, Margo Feinberg, who shared his passion for empowering workers and time with family and friends, reported that Fred passed away on the evening of Sunday, November 20, having just celebrated his 75th birthday. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

His father, Fred Ross Sr., was a legendary community organizer who Cesar Chavez credited for “training me and inspiring me and being my hero.”

In his eulogy for Fred Ross Sr. in 1992, Cesar said his “deeds live on in the hundreds of organizers he trained and inspired. Not the least of them is his son, Fred Jr., who made his father very proud.” “Fred Ross Jr. was a good shepherd of his father’s legacy,” affirmed Cesar’s son, Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul F. Chavez. “Part of Fred Jr.’s mission was developing future generations of leaders and organizers among poor and working people—perhaps the greatest thing an organizer can achieve,” Paul Chavez said.

Fred Ross Jr. was born in Long Beach, Calif. in 1947. His mother, Frances Ross, also influenced her son, having pioneered services for the mentally ill. Fred Jr.’s early childhood was in Boyle Heights where his primary language was Spanish.

After graduating from Redwood High School in Marin County and U.C. Berkeley in 1970, Fred joined the United Farm Workers, helping organize that year’s giant Salinas and Santa Maria lettuce and vegetable strikes. In addition to his father, at the UFW Fred Jr. was trained and mentored by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. The next few years were spent organizing farm worker campaigns in Oregon and Washington state, and leading the boycotts of grapes, lettuce, and E.&J. Gallo wines in the Bay Area.

After taking office in January 1975, California’s new governor, Jerry Brown, was not responding to UFW calls for a farm labor law granting field laborers the rights to organize, vote in union elections, and negotiate with their employers.

So, Fred proposed and spearheaded the UFW’s high-profile march from San Francisco to Gallo’s Modesto headquarters. Nearly 20,000 workers and supporters filled the streets of Modesto on the last day of the trek, March 1, 1975. The next day the UFW got a call from the governor’s office. The following week Cesar Chavez and UFW General Counsel Jerry Cohen met Jerry Brown at his house in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills. Fred’s march on Gallo kick-started three months of negotiations producing the historic Agricultural Labor Relations Act. When the first farm elections began that year, Fred directed UFW organizing in the Santa Maria area.

Fred pursued the law, graduating in 1980 from the University of San Francisco Law School and working as a public defender. By 1985, he led Neighbor to Neighbor, turning the national grassroots organization into an effective foreign policy advocacy group challenging the Reagan administration’s murderous Contra War in Nicaragua and its backing of death squads in El Salvador. He used his organizing skills leading the 1987 San Francisco grassroots get-out-the-vote drive electing Nancy Pelosi to Congress.

By 1998, Fred returned to his labor roots by organizing health care and service workers for the Service Employees International Union. In 2009, he began crafting an innovative organizing program for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245, recruiting, engaging, and training the next generation of organizers from the ranks of its members dedicated to social justice and union solidarity. Fred retired from the union in February 2022.

Fred spent this past year working with filmmaker Ray Telles on a full-length feature documentary about his father, showing how collective action can combat prejudice and greed.

The father, Fred Ross Sr., had remarkable achievements. But perhaps his best legacy was Fred Jr. Colleagues over many decades said Fred Jr.’s organizing talents matched anyone’s, including Cesar and Fred Sr. As with his father, Fred Jr.’s labors were never about himself. He was always about empowering others to believe and indeed know they were responsible for the progress they won. Fred Jr.’s nature was ceaselessly positive; he always thought things could be done.

Fred Ross Jr. is survived by his wife, Margo Feinberg, a union labor lawyer; their two children, Charley and Helen Ross, who were introduced to picket lines as toddlers; brother Bob Ross; sister Julia Ross; and a legion of loving friends and family members and generations of organizers.

In lieu of flowers, the Ross family asks that contributions go to the Fred Ross documentary project. Written condolences to the family may be sent to FredrossMemories@gmail.com

 

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First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to visit the National Chavez Center

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First Lady Dr. Jill Biden honors Cesar Chavez at a naturalization ceremony where Chavez lived & labored his last quarter century UFW’s Teresa Romero receiving Outstanding Americans by Choice award

Keene, Calif.—First Lady Dr. Jill Biden honors Cesar Chavez three days before what would have been the civil rights and farm labor leader’s 95th birthday by helping swear in 31 immigrants from nine countries as new U.S. citizens during a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ceremony where Chavez lived and labored his last quarter century. One of the new citizens is a UFW Foundation member from Bakersfield whose husband is a farm worker, Claudia Marcela Campos.

USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou will administer the Oath of Allegiance and present a national award to United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, herself an immigrant and naturalized citizen, as an Outstanding American by Choice. Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul F. Chavez will also deliver remarks.

It is the second year in a row the first lady is visiting a farm worker movement historical property on or around Chavez’s birthday. On March 31, 2021, she marked the occasion by participating in a mass farm worker vaccination clinic at the “Forty Acres” near Delano, the movement’s headquarters before Chavez moved it to Keene in 1971.

Also historically significant is the 187-acre Keene property in the Tehachapi Mountains east of Bakersfield in Kern County. Comprising three acres of it is the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, the 398th unit of the National Park Service administered in a partnership by the park service and the National Chavez Center, part of the Chavez foundation.

Thousands of farm workers and supporters flowed through what Chavez named La Paz over the decades to plan and do their daily work—from organizing and boycotting to contract bargaining, administration, and financial management. La Paz was where many of the most important UFW campaigns—from the early 1970s onward—were devised, planned, and often coordinated. It was also where Chavez built a community of fellow union members and volunteers who worked with him full time for social justice. It was where Chavez and his colleagues lived out the principles they cherished, including nonviolence, simplicity of lifestyle and service to others.

Monday’s naturalization ceremony is set in the 17,000 square foot Mission style structure now called Villa La Paz. It was where generations of farm worker leaders learned to run their own union by organizing, negotiating and administering union contracts, and resolving differences with growers.

UFW President Teresa Romero said, “I first came to this country in my 20s, seeking a better life for myself—like millions of immigrants before me, like many of you. My respect for the UFW and the farm workers—and my understanding of their struggles—hails from the fact that when I came to America, I did not speak or understand English. I appreciate what it is like to come to a new country, to be exposed to a new language, a new culture, a new people. I have come to be equally proud of my Mexican and Zapotecan heritage as wellas my U.S. citizenship.”

Chavez foundation President Paul Chavez observed, “My dad was the son and grandson of immigrants who in the late 1800s fled the servitude of the hacienda system in Mexico. They sought opportunities they knew they could never have in their native country, sharing the dream of all immigrants—then and now—to partake in the opportunities, benefits, and prosperity this nation offers. But my father was convinced American citizenship is about more than taking an oath and waving the American flag. Citizenship is about empowering yourself and your community through participation, becoming fully informed, registering to vote, voting, and becoming fully engaged in your community’s civic, political, and cultural affairs.”

UFW Foundation Executive Director Diana Tellefson Torres said, “On this day, in this country of immigrants, we continue the proud tradition of welcoming new American citizens and congratulate everyone, including our own member, Claudia, on this achievement. Today we also thank First Lady Jill Biden for joining us in this fundamental practice to our democracy. We are emboldened by her dedication and commitment to the immigrant community and hope to work with her and the Biden administration to expand immigrant rights in the upcoming months and years.”

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A Legacy of Service Virtual Video Series

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Join the Cesar Chavez Foundation for “A Legacy of Service,” a virtual series bringing together experts, thought leaders, and activists to learn about the values Cesar Chavez epitomized. 

Episode 3 premiering March 25, 2022: Executive Vice President of Housing and Economic Development Fund Alfredo Izmajtovich in conversation with Chief Operating Officer Manuel H. Bernal

Cesar Chavez said migrant farm workers were among the original homeless. He and his family endured miserable farm labor camps and often slept under bridges or trees by roadsides while following California’s migrant trails in the late 1930s and early ‘40s. Cesar made affordable housing for the poor a mission of the National Farm Workers Service Center Inc., now known as the Cesar Chavez Foundation. Chavez Foundation Chief Operations Officer Manuel Bernal and Executive Vice President of Housing and Economic Development (HED) Alfredo Izmajtovich discuss the history of the HED Fund and the long-term effort to build wealth and lasting change by directing economic investment into underserved communities, fostering new initiatives that encourage entrepreneurship, educational development, and community service.

Episode 2: Executive Vice President of Education Dr. Celia Garcia Alvarado in conversation with Riverside County Deputy Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin Gomez

Cesar Chavez believed that the needs of the people went beyond their workday and understood that farmworkers lacked access to high-quality education for their children. Today, the Cesar Chavez Foundation’s Education Fund is dedicated to building a just society by educating the hearts and minds of children through culturally responsive, diverse products and services in under-resourced communities. Tune in Monday, September 13, to learn more about the work of the Education Fund and a new program in partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education.

 

Premiered March 31, 2021: Paul Chavez In Conversation with Teresa Romero 

Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul Chavez and UFW President Teresa Romero discuss Cesar Chavez’s bold vision for a strong farmworkers’ union as well as services that would support that union by building communities up beyond the workplace. Learn about Cesar’s ambitious vision, and how half a century later, the lasting and ongoing effects of his work continue to transcend even his original aim.