Cesar Chavez Begins Fast to Protest Conditions of Farm Workers

United Farm Workers picketing at a Safeway supermarket in Seattle on Dec. 19, 1969. (Barry Sweet / Associated Press

Cesar Chavez, director of United Farm Workers Union, goes on a hunger strike in solidarity with the union of farm workers who were striking against terrible working conditions and slave wages for grape pickers and other migrant farm workers in California.

During his fast, Chavez was ordered to appear in Kern County Courthouse to face charges filed by the Giumarra Corporation related to strike actions.  However, the Kern County judge postponed to trial due to Chavez weakened condition during the fast, which lasted more than 20 days.

When Chavez finally did appear to answer the charges, he was joined by one thousand union members who insisted they face the accusations together.

The hunger fast is credited with propelling Chavez, and his cause of raising the living standards of (largely immigrant and migrant) farm workers, to the national and international stage.

Today, Chavez is revered as the founder and spiritual leader of the migrant workers civil rights movement.

 Download original scan of "El Malcriado" 15 March 1968
El Malcriado (15 Mar 1968)


Sources:
Today in history: Cesar Chavez began his 25-day water-only fast in Delano by Inga Kim

César Chávez and the 1968 Fast: A Turning Point for the United Farm Workers by Linda Baughn

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