San Antonio College Library

A biography of vineyard worker Cesar Chavez, who organized the California grape pickers so they could bargain more effectively for better wages and working conditions.

Stylized illustrations by a Caldecott Medalist accompany lyrical prose and poems in this celebration of the life of Cesar Chavez. This thoughtful and beautiful biography illuminates not only the events that made up the great labor leader's life, but also the ideals and inspiration that are his legacy.

"From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement is the most comprehensive history ever written on the meteoric rise and precipitous decline of the United Farm Workers, the most successful farm labor union in United States history. Based on little-known sources and one-of-a-kind oral histories with many veterans of the farm worker movement, this book revises much of what we know about the UFW. Matt Garcia's...

"Cesar Chavez dedicated his life to helping American farmworkers. As a child growing up in California during the Great Depression, he picked produce with his family. Cesar saw firsthand how unfairly workers were treated. As an adult, he organized farmworkers into unions and argued for better pay and fair working conditions. He was jailed for his efforts, but he never stopped urging people to stand up for their rights"--Amazon.com.

A biography of Cesar Chavez, social activist, union organizer, and spokesperson for the poor. Also profiled are Terence V. Powderly, who led the Knights of Labor, one of the most important early labor organizations in the United States, and Dolores Huerta, who worked with Cesar Chavez to found and organize what would become the United Farm Workers of America, and who has also encouraged Hispanic American women to run for office.

This biography of Chavez by Richard Griswold del Castillo and Richard A. Garcia is the first to approach Chavez's life - his courageous acts, his turning points, his many perceived personas - in the context of Chicano and American history. It reveals a shy, quiet man who was launched by events into a maelstrom of campesino strikes, religious fervor, and nonviolent battles for justice. Among his friends and supporters he counted Martin Luther King...