Turlock native and labor movement activist to speak at Cesar Chavez Day celebration
Turlock native Aggie Rose Chavez vividly remembers the inspiring and humble ways of Cesar Chavez as he led a labor movement and promoted civil rights.
"I like to focus on the fact that he was a labor leader. For him, it was about the fields and the people working in them," Chavez said.
Chavez, who served as an organizer for the United Farm Workers, will help mark the works and achievements of Cesar Chavez at California State University, Stanislaus’ celebration of his life on Thursday, as a guest speaker. Chavez will be joined by labor attorney Liza Medina.
Like most Turlock farm kids from the 60s and 70s, Chavez spent her summers working in the fields and orchards around town as a way to earn extra spending cash. It was in the fields that Chavez saw first-hand the backbreaking and demanding labor expected of farmworkers for very little pay.
"I was working one summer in a field where the braceros had been brought in to do the bulk of the work," she said. "We were doing this work to earn a little money for school clothes. I remember being stunned by how little these men were making and they had whole families to support."
The eye-opening experience stuck with Chavez and in part, served as her motivation to become active in the UFW.
"The farmworker movement appealed to me because, one, it seemed to comprise actual workers and their supporters, and two, I knew how hard and underpaid field labor was from personal experience," Chavez wrote in an essay about her time with the UFW.
During her stint with the UFW, Chavez played a key role in organizing the 1972 strike by fieldworkers against Gallo in Livingston.
"It was very hard work that was mostly unpaid," Chavez said. "But it was very rewarding. I was always impressed with the brotherhood and sisterhood of the movement. At times, they struggled to survive, but they always held onto their dignity."
Since leaving the UFW, Chavez has become an advocate for literacy and practices law in Oakland, specializing in family and disability issues.
CSU Stanislaus’ salute to Chavez will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday with a reception featuring a Latin jazz band and a silent auction in the Carol Burke Lounge. The main program featuring the guest speaker presentations and dance and music performances follows at 6 p.m. in the nearby Event Center. Admission is free and open to the public.
To contact Sabra Stafford, e-mail sstafford@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2002.