![]() The farm workers and supporters carried banners with the black eagle with HUELGA (strike) and VIVA LA CAUSA (Long live our cause). The reason was Cesar Chavez’s tireless leadership and nonviolent tactics that included the Delano grape strike, his fasts that focused national attention on farm workers problems, and the 340-mile march from Delano to Sacramento in 1966. ![]() By 1970 the UFW got grape growers to accept union contracts and had effectively organized most of that industry, at one point in time claiming 50,000 dues paying members. When people see it they know it means dignity.”įor a long time in 1962, there were very few union dues paying members. Cesar made reference to the flag by stating, “A symbol is an important thing. He then squared off the wing edges so that the eagle would be easier for union members to draw on the handmade red flags that would give courage to the farm workers with their own powerful symbol. Finally he sketched one on a piece of brown wrapping paper. He asked Richard to design the flag, but Richard could not make an eagle that he liked. Cesar told the story of the birth of the eagle. That same year Richard Chavez designed the UFW Eagle and Cesar chose the black and red colors. He was joined by Dolores Huerta and the union was born. In 1962 Cesar founded the National Farm Workers Association, later to become the United Farm Workers – the UFW. ![]() Īs a reminder today of just who Cesar Chavez was and what he stood for, here is an interview with Chavez from May 17, 1968, at the height of the Grape Boycott and the struggle for recognition the Migrant Farm Worker had throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s. Cesar Chavez – The relentless struggle for dignity and a decent wage.
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