Swallow, Shirley

This collection contains contains a great deal of information about the United Farm Workers and the organizations that supported its efforts to alleviate the plight of the farm workers.

The National Farm Workers Association was established in Delano, California in September 1962 by Cesar Chavez. In 1966 the NFWA changed its name to the National Farm Workers Union and later that year merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form a new union affiliated with the AFL-CIO. This new organization was called the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, and Cesar Chavez was named the director. "The grinding cycle of poverty that is handed down from generation to generation exists because the employers will not let the workers organize," Chavez said. Now, as head of a larger and more powerful organization, he worked tirelessly to change this situation, using his charisma to persuade farm workers to band together to support strikes and boycotts, including the famous national grape and lettuce boycotts, which eventually forced to growers to sign contracts with the union. Chavez himself endured fasts, death threats and even a jail sentence to advance La Causa.

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