Cesar Chavez Day Celebrated Across the U.S.

LOS ANGELES, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The March 31 birthday of the legendary late farm worker leader Cesar Chavez is being celebrated as an official state holiday in eight states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin), and in dozens of cities, counties, communities and schools throughout the United States this week.

Chavez, born on March 31, 1927, founded the United Farm Workers of America and led the labor union until his death on April 23, 1993. Senator Robert F. Kennedy called Cesar Chavez "One of the heroic figures of our time," and in 1994 President Clinton posthumously awarded Chavez the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor (see citation text below).

Cesar Chavez Day activities began with a Mass on Sunday, March 26 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, attended by 5,000 farm workers and their supporters, and 1000 people attended a luncheon in San Diego on Monday, March 27.

In other cities, thousands of students, teachers, activists, labor union members, and community leaders will march on and around March 31st to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Chavez-led 1966 Peregrinacion (Pilgrimage) -- the 350-mile march from Delano to Sacramento that ended with 10,000 people rallying on the steps of the State Capitol to thrust the cause of the striking farm workers squarely before the nation.

Additionally, tens of thousands of students across the country will be engaged in year-round service-learning projects that put into practice Chavez's core values of sacrifice and service to the most needy.

Conceived as a "day on" rather than a "day off," the holiday celebrates the legacy of civil rights leader Cesar E. Chavez through volunteer, educational and cultural events. A complete list of community events, celebrations and service activities around the country and in local communities is available on the Events Calendar page at the Chavez Foundation website: http://www.chavezfoundation.org/.

Following is the text of the citation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented posthumously to Cesar Chavez by President Clinton on August 8, 1994:

With few material possessions, but guided by his parents' steady example, his Catholic faith, the lessons of Gandhi, and an unshakable belief in justice, Cesar Chavez brought about much needed change in our country. An agricultural worker himself since childhood, he possessed a deep personal understanding of the plight of migrant workers, and he labored all his years to lift their lives. As the leader of United Farm Workers of America, he faced formidable, often violent opposition with dignity and nonviolence. And he was victorious. Cesar Chavez left our world better than he found it, and his legacy inspires us still.

http://www.medaloffreedom.com/1994Recipients.htm