Cesar Chavez

Hello! My name is Cesar Chavez. I was born on March 31st, 1927, on a big, sunny farm in Arizona. I loved living there with my family. We had so much fun playing and helping with the animals. But when I was a boy, my family lost our farm. It was a very sad day. We had to pack all our things and move to a new place called California to find work.

In California, my family became farm workers. We traveled from farm to farm, picking fruits and vegetables. The work was very, very hard. The sun was so hot, and our backs would get sore. The people we worked for weren't always kind. They didn't pay us much money, and it was hard for my family to buy food and have a nice place to sleep. Seeing my family and friends so sad made my heart hurt.

I knew this wasn't fair. I thought, 'If we all work together, we can be strong!' So, I talked to the other farm workers. I told them that if we used our voices together, people would listen. With my friend Dolores Huerta, we started a group called the United Farm Workers. We wanted to help everyone get treated with kindness and respect. We asked for better pay and safer places to work.

We never used hitting or yelling to make a change. We used our words and peaceful ideas. We marched together and asked everyone in the country to help us by not buying grapes for a while. And it worked! The farm owners started to listen. We showed everyone that even when things are hard, you can make a big difference by being peaceful and working together. I always liked to say, '¡Sí, se puede!' That means, 'Yes, it can be done!'