Cesar Chavez was the son of California farm workers, and saw how his family struggled working to make due with minimal wages and long hours in the fields.
Chavez, a Mexican-American, became a labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association.
In 1965, he led a 300-mile walk, or strike, across California to Sacramento to protest for higher wages and for the first National Farm Workers Association.
By the time Chavez reached the state’s capital, he had 10,000 strong who joined him in boycotting grapes in California. Grapes rotted and the workers got their first association.
His birthday has become Cesar Chavez Day, and Palm Beach County residents came out March 31 at 2300 High Ridge Road in Boynton Beach to watch “Fight in the Fields,” a documentary on his life by Ray Telles and Rick Tejada Flores.
Manuel Allende, executive director of the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County, said he wanted employees and residents to see where the work his organization does started with Chavez.
The council, based in Lake Worth and Belle Glade, provides certain services to farm workers in Palm Beach, including support groups, food, clothing, vocational training, scholarships and literacy workshops.
“We just wanted to commemorate his [Chavez] birthday,” Allende said. “This is a day to just share with each other. He just did so much for our cause.”
Roxana Sanchez, a vocational specialist for the council out of the Belle Glade office, comes from parents who were migrant workers.
“I worked a couple seasons myself, and all we do here is to help these people better themselves,” she said.
Sanchez said she learned a lot from the documentary about who was involved in the forming of the very first farm workers association.
For information on the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County, call the Lake Worth office at 561-533-7227 or the Belle Glade office at 561-992-0603.
Read more about this story in the April 8 issue of the Boynton and Lake Worth Forums.
Mike Rothman can be reached at mkrothman@tribune.com.