~Born March 31, 1927, in Yuma, Arizona; died April 23, 1993, in San Luis, Arizona; married; eight children. Education: Attended public schools until age 12. Religion: Roman Catholic. Military Service: U.S. Navy, 1944-45.
~Career: Community Service Organization, field operative, then state director, 1952-62; National Farm Workers Association (later United Farm Workers Operations Committee), founder and director, 1962-93.
~During World War II Chávez joined the U.S. Navy and spent two years in the service
~Chávez embarked upon 25 days of fasting as a way to publicize his boycott around the country, and also staged protest marches as far away as Texas and other agriculture-based states that employed migrant labor.
~Chávez's initiation of a strike and nationwide boycott of California lettuce in September of 1970 ultimately brought the growers to the table—and left Chávez briefly jailed in violation of a court order against such action
~1999 saw the Texas House of Representatives pass a bill honoring Chávez and establishing March 31st (his birthday) as a state holiday
~In 2001 the state of California honored him by marking March 30th as the annual César E. Chávez Day, the first celebration of which brought the state's governor, Cardinal Mahony, Ethel Kennedy, and other notables together in the labor leader's memory