Former Cesar Chavez home added to National Register of Historic Places
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• Had directed farm worker unionization efforts from it
• ‘For my father, La Paz was a personal refuge from bitter struggles’
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“By adding La Paz, now known as the National Chavez Center, to the National Register of Historic Places, we are honoring his legacy and inviting Americans to learn more about the life and work of this extraordinary man,” says Mr. Salazar.
“For my father, La Paz was a personal refuge from bitter struggles in agricultural valleys and big cities, a spiritual harbor where he recharged batteries, drew fresh inspiration and prepared for the battles ahead,” says Paul Chavez, Cesar Chavez’s middle son and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
La Paz, located east of Bakersfield in the Tehachapi Mountains of Kern County, served as the headquarters of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) and Cesar Chavez’s residence from 1971-1993.
Purchased in 1970 by Hollywood film producer Ed Lewis and turned over to the farm worker movement La Paz quickly became a center of labor and farm worker organizing activities. Thousands of union members and supporters visited the complex to receive training, plan with union leaders, and hear directly from Chavez and others.
The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of historically significant properties. It was established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, and currently includes more than 87,000 historic buildings, structures, districts, sites, and objects.
Properties are nominated for listing in the National Register by states, tribes, and federal agencies, and can be listed at the state and local as well as the national level of significance. La Paz was nominated for listing in the National Register at the national level of significance by California’s State Historic Preservation Officer in July 2011.