It Is Not About Cesar Chavez
Even though he became the "face" of the United Farm Workers he isn't the movement.
So let's start celebrating it right.
Let us celebrate all ethnic backgrounds.
Early 1800s: Native Americans
1800–1848: Missions/Ranchos relied almost exclusively on indigenous labor.
There were also a small numbers of Spanish and Russian settlers.
Chinese & the Early Asian Wave
1860s–1882: Chinese Workers.
They were the first major migrant group to dominate farm labor in California.
After the transcontinental railroad, Chinese workers became the largest farm labor group (roughly 80% by 1886).
1882–1900: Japanese & South Asian Workers
After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, other Asian groups took over.
In the late 1800s many Japanese laborers moved from Japan and Hawaii to the West Coast.
By the 1900s, Punjabi Sikhs and Filipino workers also arrived and worked the fields of California.
1900–1950: Mexican & Filipino Dominance
1910s–1930s: Mexicans
Mexican workers became the primary laborers in the 1910s (boosted by the revolution in Mexico), while Filipinos were crucial, especially in the 1920s.
1920s–1930s: Filipino Workers
Recruited in large numbers during the 1920s, often arriving via Hawaii, Filipinos became a critical part of the workforce.
1930s: "Dust Bowl" Migrants
During the Great Depression, thousands of White "Okie" and "Arkie" refugees from the Midwest briefly became the majority of the seasonal workforce.
1942–1947: Bracero Program
The first phase of this guest-worker program solidified the reliance on Mexican labor during WWII.
1950–2000: The Latino Majority
1951–1964: Peak Bracero Era
Millions of Mexican men were brought in on short-term contracts.
1960s–1980s: Filipino & Mexican Activism
The workforce remained multi-ethnic, but predominantly Mexican and Filipino.
The UFW was formed (1966) by the merger of Cesar Chavez’s National Farm Workers Association and the Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), led by Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz.
Filipinos were eased out of the UFW and like all the other ethnic groups left work in the farms.
1990s–2000: Over 90% Latino
Today it is predominantly of Mexican heritage.
History tells us it is not about Cesar Chavez at all. While Cesar Chavez became the face, it was a multi-ethnic, multi-generational movement of totally forgotten Asian and other people groups.
