Ms. Grace Chee, West's AFT 1521 president, has written an interesting and informative email about Mr. Chavez and other individuals who were crucial in the fight for farm workers' rights. I share texerpts from the email here with Ms. Chee's permission.
Ms. Chee notes that in addition to Mr. Chavez, three other individuals were important in the organizing of farm workers: Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Dolores Huerta. "These civil rights activists unified and organized the Filipino/a and Latino/a farm workers of California by organizing the United Farm Workers and starting a major strike against Delano Farms that eventually involved 17 million Americans boycotting grapes. For more information, please check out these links.
"Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee or Filipino farm workers. Good short video clips on PBS
- 'We Farmworkers Should Have an Organization of Our Own'
- 'They Liked to Pit the Mexicans Against the Filipinos'
"Dolores Huerta worked closely with Cesar Chavez and farm workers and invented the slogan that President Obama borrowed, 'Si se puede' or 'Yes we can.'
- Dolores Huerta (from the National Women's History Museum)
"The tireless efforts of Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Dolores Huerta, and Cesar Chavez organizing farm workers resulted in the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 that legalized farm workers' rights to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages and conditions."