Cesar Chavez: A Photographic Essay

Combines archival photographs of Cesar Chavez and the people with whom he worked with information about his life and accomplishments.

Gr 7 Up–Stavans is clearly a great admirer of Chavez and his career. The black-and-white photos throughout, with brief and to-the-point text, make the activist's life's work clear and poignant. Chavez, the child of migrant workers, quit school after eighth grade to work in the fields. His goal from an early age was to organize farm laborers and help them gain the respect and rights that most Americans enjoyed. He wanted to break the patterns of worker abuse, which included no minimum wage, long hours, and undrinkable water. Chavez secured better working conditions for thousands with his 1970 victory for the United Farm Workers Union by bargaining with the table-grape growers. This photo-biography covers the high points of his career, including ample and pointed quotes by him and touching on his global recognition and interactions with activist Fred Ross Jr., Dolores Huerta, Pope Paul VI, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. The full-page black-and-white photos give a sense of the man at various ages, of the migrant workers' lives, and of being on the road demonstrating and striking. The book also includes a comprehensive time line. It is an excellent introduction to social activism from the 1950s through the 1980s.Meredith Toumayan, The Governor's Academy, Byfield, MA
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