STOCKTON – Cesar E. Chavez’s personal library was described as humble by a Tracy friend.
Bookshelves were assembled with 2-by-10 beams of lumber. About six or seven worn-out chairs surrounded his desk. A short farming hoe, banned in 1975, hung from a wall – a reminder of people who sustained work-related back injuries using it.
But the reading quarters served its purpose, because Chavez loved reading, said Mercedes Rea Silveira, a Tracy resident and friend of Chavez.
"He had so many books that he constantly read," said Silveira, district coordinator for Tracy Unified School District’s English Language Development program.
It was fitting that Stockton named Cesar Chavez Central Library after him. San Joaquin County was deeply affected by Chavez’s agriculture labor movement through the 1960s and early 1970s, Silveira said.
His birthday, March 31, is celebrated as a state holiday in California and serves as a reminder of the hope he gave local farm laborers who continue to sustain San Joaquin County’s leading industry. Agriculture brings in $1.7 billion annually.
"Farm workers were worked hard and long on the fields for substandard wages. They didn’t have water. They were victimized. They were charged for food," said Stockton resident Alicia Arong, Dolores Huerta’s sister and a board member of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
Huerta, who now lives in Bakersfield, was a Stockton resident during ONITAGITALICONIla huelaga ONIENDITALICONI(the movement). She also was a co-founder of United Farm Workers.
During the marches led by Chavez and Huerta, large groups of people walked from Delano to Sacramento as they sang and chanted motivational songs. They stopped at cities along the way, including Stockton, to lodge at supporters’ homes.
Some of the people offering their homes to the protesters included Silveira, Arong and retired San Joaquin Delta College instructor Richard Rios.
"I remember being on an actual march with Cesar Chavez. We went to a farm camp on Harney Lane demanding our rights as workers," Rios said.
Arong recalled that about 20 people would camp out in her living room.
"Cesar had an aura about him that brought people to him," Arong said.
"He had a peace … and strength. And that made him and Dolores a great pair," Arong said.
Chavez died April 23, 1993, in his sleep, following a two-day fast in Arizona. He was 66.
"I remember clearly the day he passed away," Silveira said. "I couldn’t work."
After Chavez’s death, Silveira and other Latino community leaders approached the City Council with ideas for honoring the Latino icon. One of those ideas was to rename the Stockton-San Joaquin Central Library.
The resolution to rename the library was passed Nov. 29, 1993, seven months after Chavez’s death. The library officially took on Chavez’s name in 1998.
"The idea didn’t come from the library," said Heather Mompean, the county library’s marketing and community relations officer. "But the library supported the city’s decision to do so."
Another Stockton structure that honors the Latino hero is the recently built Cesar Chavez High School. Also, a mural of Chavez was painted outside Delta College’s Goleman Library. The mural artists include Rios and Joe Mariscal, an art teacher at the college.
Chavez was a member of the Community Involvement Organization and co-founded United Farm Workers union. He also was an advocate of educating young Latinos.
"I really like the idea that we don’t forget what this little man did in such a big way," Rios said. "If anyone should honor him, it is the Central Valley and Stockton, because many of the farm workers came from this area."
Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.