CORPUS CHRISTI —Irma Woods remembers refusing to buy grapes.

"We boycotted table grapes for years," said the Del Mar College early childhood development professor. "It paid off, for everyone."

Why?

Because the fruit was being sprayed with pesticides.

César Chávez led the five-year grape boycott, just as he led a nonviolent charge against companies that did not treat predominantly Hispanic migrant farm workers fairly. In the 1960s he cofounded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers union. The plight continued for two decades, including 25 days in 1989 when Chávez fasted to draw attention to continued mistreatment of workers.

His leadership resulted in secured labor rights for agricultural workers.

Woods was one of 163 people Saturday who walked in the 13th annual César Chávez Marcha, in honor of César Chávez Day, celebrated on the labor leader’s birthday.

"The changes that came from such a humble man are still important today," Woods said. "It’s important for children to learn their culture from the beginning."

Chávez died in 1993 at age 66.

History tells that Chávez quit school after eighth grade, in 1942, to become a full-time migrant farmworker, because he didn’t want his mother working in the fields to support her family of six children. Two years later he joined the Navy at 17 and served two years during World War II, which he later described as the two worst years of his life. He had hoped to learn skills in the military that would help him later in life, but as with most Mexican-American sailors at the time, he was allowed only to work as a deck hand or painter.

As he stood in the shade of an awning waiting to march for the first time B.R. Cantu, 78, said he knew that treatment firsthand.

"I’m going to get some sun today," Cantu said, lifting the brim of his straw hat. "I’ve never marched for anybody, but today I will."

Cantu joined students of César Chávez Academy, workers with several labor unions, members of LULAC Council No. 1, leaders of Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education, a dozen political candidates and their families and supporters.

They began quietly at 1 p.m. spilling from a parking lot at Port Avenue and Agnes Street — designated as César Chávez Memorial Parkway by the city in 1999.

It was a block away the quiet cadence was broken.

"Si se puede," yelled Anna Cantu from a bus stop bench, where she waited with her two children.

Dozens of marchers resounded: "Si se puede (yes you can)," — the motto of the United Farm Workers. Along with their chant, marchers waved dozens of red paper flags emblazoned with the black Aztec eagle.

The march continued to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church for a blessing, then participants trailed to Antonio E. Garcia Arts & Education Center for Folklorico dance, band entertainment and snacks.

In 2000 Texas joined California by making César Chávez Day a state holiday. Colorado followed in 2003 and now eight states have joined ranks.

While it is not yet a national holiday, last week President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31, 2012 — the 85th anniversary of Chávez’s birth — as César Chávez Day and called upon the nation to observe the day "with appropriate service, community, and education programs to honor César Chávez’s enduring legacy."

The proclamation Obama signed March 23 reverberates Chávez’s words: "We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own."