Mission District The Mission
—  Neighborhood of San Francisco  —
Clarion Alley Mural Project. Clarion Alley Mural Project.
Mission District Location within Central San Francisco
Coordinates: 37°45′36″N 122°24′53″W / 37.76001°N 122.41482°W / 37.76001; -122.41482
Government
• Board of Supervisors	David Campos
• State Assembly	Tom Ammiano(D)
• State Senate	Mark Leno (D)
• U.S. House	Nancy Pelosi (D)
Area[1]
• Land	4.83 km2 (1.865 sq mi)
Population (2008)[1]
• Total	47,234
• Density	9,780/km2 (25,329/sq mi)
ZIP Code	94103, 94110
Area code(s)	415

The Mission District, also commonly called "The Mission", is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, USA, originally known as "the Mission lands"^[2] meaning the lands belonging to the sixth Alta California mission, Mission San Francisco de Asis. This mission, San Francisco's oldest standing building, is located in the neighborhood.

Location and climate[link]

Aerial view of Mission District.

The principal thoroughfare of the Mission District of San Francisco is Mission Street. Its borders are U.S. Route 101 to the east which forms the boundary between the eastern portion of the district, known as "Inner Mission" and its eastern neighbor, Potrero Hill, while Sanchez Street separates the neighborhoods from Eureka Valley (also known as "The Castro") and Noe Valley to the west. The part of the neighborhood from Valencia Street to Sanchez Street, north of 20th, is known as Mission Dolores. South of 20th towards 22nd, and between Valencia and Dolores Streets is a distinct sub-neighborhood known as Liberty Hill.^[3] Cesar Chavez Street (formerly Army Street) is the southern border which lies next to Bernal Heights, while to the north the neighborhood is separated from South of Market roughly by Duboce Avenue and the elevated highway of the Central Freeway which runs above 13th Street. Also along Mission Street, further south-central are the Excelsior and Crocker-Amazon neighborhoods, sometimes referred to as the "Outer Mission" (not to be confused with the actual Outer Mission neighborhood). The Mission District is part of San Francisco's supervisorial districts 6, 9 and 10.

The microclimates of San Francisco create a system by which each neighborhood can have radically different weather at any given time. The Mission's geographical location insulates it from the fog and wind from the west. As a result, the Mission has a tendency to be warmer and sunnier than the rest of the city. This climatic phenomenon becomes apparent to visitors who walk downhill from 24th Street in the west from Noe Valley (where clouds from Twin Peaks in the west tend to accumulate on foggy days) towards Mission Street in the east, partly because Noe Valley is on higher ground whereas the Inner Mission is at a lower elevation.^[4]

History[link]

Prior to 1900[link]

Pioneer Race Course 1853, the grandstands shown were located just south of 24th and Shotwell St.

The Yelamu Indians inhabited the region that is now known as the Mission District for over 2,000 years. Spanish missionaries arrived in the area during the late 18th century. They found these people living in two villages on Mission Creek. It was here that a Spanish priest named Father Francisco Palóu founded Mission San Francisco de Asis on June 29, 1776. The Mission was moved from the shore of Laguna Dolores to its current location in 1783.^[5] Franciscan friars are reported to have used Ohlone slave labor to complete the Mission in 1791.^[6] This period marked the beginning of the end of the Yelamu culture. The Indian population at Mission Dolores dropped from 400 to 50 between 1833 and 1841. Ranchos owned by Spanish-Mexican families such as the Valenciano, Guerrero, Dolores, Bernal, Noé and De Haro continued in the area, separated from the town of Yerba Buena, later renamed San Francisco (centered around Portsmouth Square) by a two mile wooden plank road (later paved and renamed Mission Street).

The lands around the nearly abandoned mission church became a focal point of raffish attractions^[7] including bull and bear fighting, horse racing, baseball and dueling. A famous beer parlor resort known as The Willows was located along Mission Creek just south of 18th Street between Mission Street and San Carlos Street.^[8] From 1865 to 1891 a large conservatory and zoo known as Woodward's Gardens was located along the west side of Mission Street between 13th and 15th Streets.^[9] In the decades after the Gold Rush, the town of San Francisco quickly expanded, and the Mission lands were developed and subdivided into housing plots for working class immigrants, largely German, Irish and Italian,^[7] and also for industrial uses.

Professional Baseball[link]

As the city grew in the decades following the Gold Rush, the Mission District became home to the first professional baseball stadium in California, opened in 1868 and known as Recreation Grounds seating 17,000 people which was located at Folsom and 25th Streets, a portion of the grounds remain as present day Garfield Square.^[10] Also, in the 20th century, the Mission District was home to two other baseball stadiums, Recreation Park located at 14th and Valencia and Seals Stadium located at 16th and Bryant with both these stadiums being used by the baseball team named after the Mission District known as the Mission Reds and the San Francisco Seals.

Ethnicity trends[link]

During European settlement of the City in the 19th and 20th century, large numbers of Irish and German immigrant workers moved into the area. Development and settlement intensified after the 1906 earthquake, as many displaced businesses and residents moved into the area, making Mission Street a major commercial thoroughfare. In 1926, the Polish Community of San Francisco converted a church on 22nd Street and Shotwell Street and opened its doors as the Polish Club of San Francisco, referred to today as the "Dom Polski", or Polish Home. The Irish American community made their mark during this time, with notable people like etymologist Peter Tamony calling the Mission home. During the 1940-1960s, large numbers of Mexican immigrants moved into the area, initiating white flight, giving the Mission the Latin character it is known for today. During the 1980s and into the 1990s, the neighborhood received a higher influx of immigrants and refugees from Central and South America fleeing civil wars and political instability at the time. These immigrants brought in many Central American banks and companies which would set up branches, offices, and regional headquarters on Mission Street.

Recent history[link]

In the late 1970s and early 1980s the Valencia Street corridor had a lively punk night life with several clubs including The Offensive, The Deaf Club and Valencia Tool & Die and the former fire station on 16th Street, called the Compound, sported what was commonly referred to as "the punk mall", an establishment that catered to punk style and culture. On South Van Ness, Target Video and Damage Magazine were located in a three-story warehouse. The neighborhood was dubbed "the New Bohemia" by the San Francisco Chronicle in 1995.

Since at least the 1980s, a wave of gang affiliation appeared in the Mission. Branches of the Sureño and Norteño gangs settled in and engaged in criminal activities and open violence over territorial boundaries in the neighborhood, northwest and southeast respectively.^[11] Also, the notorious international gang MS-13 who was originated in LA,^[12] become active at the time. Although during the late 1990s and into the 2000s gang prevention programs, including a 2007 injunction,^[13] have attempted to reduce the associated violence from these gangs, these kind of activities still continue to be a persistent problem for the neighborhood, resulting in uncomfortable socio-economic overlaps of a neighborhood in transition.^[14][15][16]

Following that decade in the late 1990s and into the 2010s, and especially during the dot-com boom, young urban professionals, to twentysomethings and thirtysomethings living the hipster lifestyle moved into the area, initiating gentrification, and raising rent and housing prices^[17], with a number of Latino middle-class families as well as artists moving to the Outer Mission area, or out of the city entirely to the suburbs of East Bay and South Bay area. Despite rising rent and housing prices, many Mexican and Central American immigrants continue to reside in the Mission, although the neighborhood's high rents and home prices have led to the Latino population dropping by 20% over the last decade.^[18] Most recently, the Mission has a reputation of being edgy and artsy.^[19]

Landmarks and features[link]

Alta California mission, Mission San Francisco de Asis, the namesake of the neighborhood, and the oldest building in the city located in the far western end of the neighborhood on Dolores Street.

Roxie Theater, 16th Street and Valencia Street

The Women's Building. Street murals and paintings of Latin American culture by local artists are a common feature and attraction

Mission District's annual Day of the Dead celebration, Garfield Square.

Dolores Park is a popular recreation area

Carnival dancers, 24th Street

The large Latino population in the Mission District can be seen highlighted in this thematic map of San Francisco

Mission Dolores, the eponymous former mission located the far western border of the neighborhood on Dolores Street, continues to operate as a museum and as a California Historical Landmark, while the newer basilica built and opened next to it in 1913 continues to have an active congregation.

Near Mission Dolores, Dolores Park, officially Mission Dolores Park, bounded by Dolores Street, Church Street, 18th Street, and 20th Street, the largest park in the neighborhood, and one of the most popular parks in the city. Across from Dolores Park is Mission High School, built in 1927 in the Mediterranean Revival / Baroque Churrigueresque style.

Although gentrification during the 1990s and 2000s shifted the demographics and culture of the neighborhood, to account for a large younger, more White American, the Mission remains the cultural nexus and epicenter of San Francisco's, and to a lesser extent, the Bay Area's Latino, Chicano, Nicaraguan Salvadorian and Guatemalan community. While Mexican, Salvadorian, and other Latin American businesses are pervasive throughout the neighborhood, residences are not evenly distributed. Most of the neighborhood's Hispanic residents live on the eastern and southern sides. The western and northern sides of the neighborhood are more affluent and less diverse.^[20]

Food[link]

The Mission district is also famous and influential for its restaurants. Dozens of Taquerías are located throughout the neighborhood, showcasing a localized styling of Mexican food and is the original home of the San Francisco burrito.^[21] There are also a high concentration of Salvadorean, Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, restaurants there as well as a large number of street food vendors.^[22] In the last couple decades a number of high caliber of multi-ethnic specialty restaurants have gained national attention, most notably the Michelin two-star rated French restaurant Sai'son on Folsom Street. A large number of other restaurants are also popular, including: Mission Chinese Food and Foreign Cinema on Mission Street, Delfina on 18th and Alma, the Slated Door and Luna Park on Valencia.^[23][24]

Art scene[link]

Due to the existing cultural attractions, less expensive housing and commercial space, and the high density of restaurants and drinking establishments, the Mission is a magnet for young people. An independent arts community also arose and, since the 1990s, the area has been home to the Mission School art movement. Many studios, galleries, performance spaces, and public art projects are located in the Mission, including the Project Artaud, First Exposures, Southern Exposure, Art Explosion Studios, Artist Xchange, Artists' Television Access, and the oldest, alternative, not-for profit art space in the city of San Francisco, Intersection for the Arts. The Roxie Theater, the oldest continuously-operating movie theater in San Francisco, is host to repertory and independent films as well as local film festivals. Poets, musicians, emcees, and other artists sometimes gather on the southwest corner of the 16th & Mission intersection to perform.^[25]

Numerous Latino artistic and cultural institutions are based in the Mission. The Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts, established by Latino artists and activists, is an art space. The local bilingual newspaper, El Tecolote, was founded in 1970. The Mission's Galería de la Raza, founded by local artists active in el Movimiento (the Chicano civil rights moment), is a nationally recognized arts organization. Late May, the city's annual Carnaval festival and parade marches down Mission Street. Meant to mimic the festival in Rio de Janeiro, it is held in late May instead of the traditional late February to take advantage of better weather.

Murals[link]

Throughout the Mission walls and fences are decorated with murals initiated by the Chicano Art Mural Movement of the 1970s^[26] and inspired by the traditional Mexican paintings made famous by Diego Rivera. Some of the more significant mural installations are located on Balmy Alley, and Clarion Alley.

Transit[link]

The neighborhood is served by the BART rail system with stations on Mission Street at 16th Street and 24th Street, by Muni bus numbers 9, 12, 14, 14L, 22, 27, 33, 48, 49, 67, and along the western edge by the J Church Muni Metro line, which runs down Church Street and San Jose Avenue.

Festivals, parades and fairs[link]

• Carnival The major event of the year occurring each Memorial Day weekend is the Mission's Carnaval celebration.^[27]
• 24th Street Fair In March of each year a street fair is held along the 24th Street corridor.
• San Francisco Food Fair Annually, for several years recently, food trucks and vendor booths have sold food to tens of thousands of people along Folsom Street adjacent to La Cochina on the third weekend in September.^[28]
• Cesar Chavez Holiday Parade The second weekend of April is marked by a parade and celebration along 24th Street in honor of Cesar Chavez.^[29]
• Transgender and Dyke Marches. On the Fridays and Saturdays of the fourth weekend of June there are major celebrations of the Transgender and Dyke communities located at Dolores Park, followed by a march in the evenings along 18th Streets and Valencia Streets.^[30][31]
• Sunday Streets Twice each year, typically in May and October, Valencia, Harrision and 24th Streets are closed to automobile traffic and opened to pedestrians and bicyclists on Sunday as part of the Sunday Streets program.^[32]
• Day of the Dead Each year on November 2, a memorial procession and celebration of the dead occurs on Harrison and 24th Street with a gathering of memorials in Garfield Square.^[33]
• First Friday Monthly on the evening of the first Friday, a food and art crawl including a procession of low rider car clubs and samba dancers occurs along 24th Street from Potrero to Mission Streets.^[34]
• Open Studios On the first weekend of October, the ArtSpan organization arranges a district wide exhibit of Mission District artists studios.^[35]
• Hunky Jesus Contest Annually for 32 years on Easter Sunday the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence hold an Easter Sunday celebration including a Hunky Jesus Contest in Dolores Park.^[36]
• Rock Make Street Festival Annually for four years the Rock Make organization sponsors a music and arts festival in September on Treat and 18th Streets in the Mission.^[37]
• LitCrawl Annually on the third Saturday of October as part of the LitQuake, a literature festival, hundreds of book and poetry readings are held at bars and bookstores throughout the Mission.^[38]
• Party on Block 18 Bi-annual summer benefit for The Woman's Building and other local non-profits. The day-long street party is located on 18th Street between Dolores and Guerrero Streets.^[39][40]
• Clarion Alley Block Party Eleven years annually, a block party on the Clarion mural alley, fourth weekend in October.^[41][42]
• Remembering 1906 Annually for 105 years there has been a gathering and ceremonial gold repainting ceremony of the fire hydrant located at Church and 20th streets in honor of the only working fire hydrant that allowed the cessation of the fire following the 1906 earth quake.^[43]

Music scene[link]

The Mission is rich in musical groups and performances. Roving Mariachi bands play in restaurants throughout the district, especially in the restaurants congregated around Valencia and Mission in the northeast portion of the district. Carlos Santana spent his teenage years in the Mission, graduating from Mission High School in 1965. He has often returned to the neighborhood, including for a live concert with his band Santana that was recorded in 1969,^[44] and for the KQED documentary "The Mission" filmed in 1994.^[45]

The locally-inspired song "Mission in the Rain" by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia appeared on Garcia's solo album "Reflections", and was played by the Grateful Dead five times in concert in 1976.^[46]

Classical music is heard in the concert hall of the Community Music Center on Capp Street.^[47]

Elbo Room, a bar/live music venue on Valencia Street, is home to Dub Mission, a weekly reggae/dub party started in 1996 by DJ Sep and over the years has brought many luminaries of reggae and dub music to perform there.

The Mission District is also very popular for its influencing Hip-Hop/Rap music scene. Record labels like Black N Brown/ Thizz Latin and Hometeam Ent. help put Mission District rappers, like Goldtoes, mousie, Gangsta Flea, Mr. Kee, Friscasso, 10sion, The Goodfelonz, and Don Louis & Colicious, get exposure through various compilations such as 17 Reasons, 18 Wit A Bullet, Organized Crime, Filthy Livin' In The Mission, The Daily Grind 'Fillmoe 2 Da Mission,' and many others. There is a new generation of young and upcoming rappers who are emerging from this neighborhood such as G-One (R.I.P.), Los Da Rockstar, DJ Blaze, Rob Baysicc, Loco C, Young Mix and Yung Dunn to name a few.

Some other prominent musicians and musical personalities include:

• Luscious Jackson (alternative rock)
• Los Mocosos (cutting-edge salsa)
• Faith No More (alternative rock)
• Cesar Ascarrunz^[48] (Salsa pianist, impresario, politician, owner of the late Cesar's Latin Palace dance club)
• The Looters
• Primus
• Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express (alternative rock)
• Beck (alternative rock)
• Jawbreaker (alternative rock)

Artists[link]

Some well-known artists associated with the Mission District include:

• Ricardo Gouveia (a.k.a. "Rigo 23", painter, sculptor, and muralist)
• Chris Johanson (painter and street artist)
• Xiani Yngojo-Wang (painter, sculptor, and visionary)
• Eth-Noh-Tec, Kinetic Story Theater Eth-Noh-Tec (storytelling kinetic theater)
• Margaret Kilgallen (painter, printmaker, and graffiti artist)
• Barry McGee (a.k.a. "Twist", painter and graffiti artist)
• Ruby Neri (painter, sculptor, and graffiti artist)
• Michael V. Rios^[49] (painter, designer, and muralist)
• Xavier Viramontes^[50] (printmaker)
• Scott Williams^[51]
• Craig Baldwin (filmmaker, archivist, curator)
• Dori Seda (cartoonist, painter)
• Laurie Toby Edison^[52] (photographer)
• Dan Plasma (muralist)
• Whittles Graham (curator and street performer)
• The Hooks (Rock'n'Roll Group)
• Carlos Loarca (painter, muralist)
• Pico Sanchez (painter, printmaker)

See also[link]

San Francisco Bay Area portal

• 826 Valencia
• Intersection for the Arts
• Southern Exposure (art space)
• Precita Eyes – Mission Mural Project
• Garfield Square – Popular soccer field, swimming pool, playground and annual Day of the Dead shrines.
• Tartine – local bakery
• The Deaf Club
• San Francisco burrito
• The Redstone Building
• Dolores Park (includes list of neighborhood associations)

Further reading[link]

• Hooper, Bernadette (2006). San Francisco's Mission District. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-4657-7.
• Mirabal, Nancy Raquel, “Geographies of Displacement: Latinas/os, Oral History, and the Politics of Gentrification in San Francisco’s Mission District,” Public Historian, 31 (May 2009), 7–31.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mission District, San Francisco

• WikiTravel – overview of the district
• Western Half of The Mission – Guided photographic tour
• Eastern Half of The Mission – Guided photographic tour
• Mission Street Itself – Guided photo tour
• The Mission – Neighborhoods: The Hidden Cities of San Francisco
• Mission Dolores Neighborhood Association
• North Mission Neighborhood Association
• Project Artaud
• Artists' Television Access (ATA)
• The history of ATA – documented and created by Lex Lonehood
• Polish Club Inc. – Polish Community center in the Mission District since 1926
• San Francisco Chronicle, November 26, 1995: 'Neo-Hipsters Keep the Beat in the Mission'
• Sureño and Norteño gangs in the Mission
• New York Times, September 14, 2008: '36 Hours in San Francisco's Mission District'
• New York Times, November 20, 2005: 'San Francisco's Mission District: Eclectic, Eccentric, Electric'
• New York Times, November 5, 2000: "Mission District Fights Dot-Com Fever'
• New York Times, January 16, 1999: 'In Old Mission District: Changing Grit to Gold'

Coordinates: 37°46′N 122°25′W / 37.76°N 122.42°W / 37.76; -122.42

	Lower Haight and Duboce Triangle	South of Market	Mission Bay
	The Castro and Noe Valley		Potrero Hill
		Mission District    East
	Glen Park and Mission Terrace	Bernal Heights	Islais Creek/Butchertown and Silver Terrace

Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez, 1974
Born	Cesar Estrada Chavez (1927-03-31)March 31, 1927 Yuma, Arizona, United States
Died	April 23, 1993(1993-04-23) (aged 66) San Luis, Arizona, United States
Occupation	Farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist.
Parents	Librado Chávez (father) Juana Estrada Chávez (mother)

Cesar Estrada Chavez (locally: [ˈsesaɾ esˈtɾaða ˈtʃaβes]; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW).^[1]

A Mexican American, Chavez became the best known Latino civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers' struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the late 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California and Florida. However, by the mid-1980s membership in the UFW had dwindled to around 15,000.^{[citation needed]}

After his death he became a major historical icon for the Latino community, and for liberals generally, symbolizing support for workers and for Hispanic power based on grass roots organizing and his slogan "Sí, se puede" (Spanish for "Yes, it is possible" or, roughly, "Yes, it can be done"). His supporters say his work led to numerous improvements for union laborers. His birthday, March 31, has become Cesar Chavez Day, a state holiday in three US states. Many parks, cultural centers, libraries, schools, and streets have been named in his honor in cities across the United States.

Early life[link]

Cesar Estrada Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona, in a Mexican-American family of six children.^[2] He had two brothers, Richard (1929–2011) and Librado, and two sisters, Rita and Vicki.^[3] He was named after his grandfather, Cesario.^[4] Chavez grew up in a small adobe home, the same home in which he was born. His family owned a grocery store and a ranch, but their land was lost during the Great Depression. The family's home was taken away after his father had agreed to clear eighty acres of land in exchange for the deed to the house, an agreement which was subsequently broken. Later when Cesar's father attempted to purchase the house, he could not pay the interest on the loan and the house was sold to its original owner.^[4] His family then moved to California to become migrant farm workers.

The Chavez family faced many hardships in California. The family would pick peas and lettuce in the winter, cherries and beans in the spring, corn and grapes in the summer, and cotton in the fall.^[2] When César was a teenager, he and his older sister Rita would help other farm workers and neighbors by driving those unable to drive to the hospital to see a doctor.^[5]

In 1942, Chavez graduated from eighth grade. It would be his final year of formal schooling, because he did not want his mother to have to work in the fields. Chavez dropped out to become a full-time migrant farm worker.^[4] In 1944 he joined the United States Navy at the age of seventeen and served for two years. Chavez had hoped that he would learn skills in the Navy that would help him later when he returned to civilian life, however he soon discovered that at the time Mexican-Americans in the Navy could only work as deckhands or painters.^[6] Later, Chavez described his experience in the military as “the two worst years of my life.”^[7] When Chávez returned home from his service in the military, he married his high school sweetheart, Helen Favela. The couple moved to San Jose, California, where they would have seven children: Fernando, Linda (1951–2000),^[8] Paul, Eloise, Sylvia and Anthony.^[7]

Activism[link]

Chavez worked in the fields until 1952, when he became an organizer for the Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights group. He was hired and trained by Fred Ross as an organizer targeting police brutality. Chavez urged Mexican Americans to register and vote, and he traveled throughout California and made speeches in support of workers' rights. He later became CSO's national director in 1958.^[9]

Worker's rights[link]

In 1962 Chávez left the CSO and co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Dolores Huerta. It was later called the United Farm Workers (UFW).

Chávez speaking at a 1974 United Farm Workers rally in Delano, California

When Filipino American farm workers initiated the Delano grape strike on September 8, 1965, to protest for higher wages, Chávez eagerly supported them. Six months later, Chávez and the NFWA led a strike of California grape pickers on the historic farmworkers march from Delano to the California state capitol in Sacramento for similar goals. The UFW encouraged all Americans to boycott table grapes as a show of support. The strike lasted five years and attracted national attention. In March 1966, the US Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare's Subcommittee on Migratory Labor held hearings in California on the strike. During the hearings, subcommittee member Robert F. Kennedy expressed his support for the striking workers.^[10]

These activities led to similar movements in Southern Texas in 1966, where the UFW supported fruit workers in Starr County, Texas, and led a march to Austin, in support of UFW farm workers' rights. In the Midwest, Cesar Chavez's movement inspired the founding of two Midwestern independent unions: Obreros Unidos in Wisconsin in 1966, and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) in Ohio in 1967. Former UFW organizers would also found the Texas Farm Workers Union in 1975.

In the early 1970s, the UFW organized strikes and boycotts—including the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history—to protest for, and later win, higher wages for those farm workers who were working for grape and lettuce growers. The union also won passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which gave collective bargaining rights to farm workers. During the 1980s, Chávez led a boycott to protest the use of toxic pesticides on grapes. Bumper stickers reading "NO GRAPES" and "UVAS NO"^[11] (the translation in Spanish) were widespread. He again fasted to draw public attention. UFW organizers believed that a reduction in produce sales by 15% was sufficient to wipe out the profit margin of the boycotted product.

Chávez undertook a number of spiritual fasts, regarding the act as “a personal spiritual transformation”.^[12] In 1968, he fasted for 25 days, promoting the principle of nonviolence.^[13] In 1970, Chávez began a fast of ‘thanksgiving and hope’ to prepare for pre-arranged civil disobedience by farm workers.^[14] Also in 1972, he fasted in response to Arizona’s passage of legislation that prohibited boycotts and strikes by farm workers during the harvest seasons.^[14] These fasts were influenced by the Catholic tradition of doing penance and by Gandhi’s fasts and emphasis of nonviolence.^[13]

In a failed attempt to reach out to Filipino American farmworkers, Chávez met with then-President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos in Manila. There he endorsed the regime, which was seen by human rights advocates and religious leaders as a vicious dictatorship. This caused a rift within the UFW, which lead to Philip Vera Cruz's resignation from the organization.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Immigration[link]

The UFW during Chávez's tenure was committed to restricting immigration. Chávez and Dolores Huerta, cofounder and president of the UFW, fought the Bracero Program that existed from 1942 to 1964. Their opposition stemmed from their belief that the program undermined US workers and exploited the migrant workers. Since the Bracero program ensured a constant supply of cheap immigrant labor for growers, immigrants could not protest any infringement of their rights, lest they be fired and replaced. Their efforts contributed to Congress ending the Bracero Program in 1964. In 1973, the UFW was one of the first labor unions to oppose proposed employer sanctions that would have prohibited hiring undocumented immigrants. Later during the 1980s, while Chávez was still working alongside Huerta, he was key in getting the amnesty provisions into the 1986 federal immigration act.^[19]

On a few occasions, concerns that undocumented migrant labor would undermine UFW strike campaigns led to a number of controversial events, which the UFW describes as anti-strikebreaking events, but which have also been interpreted as being anti-immigrant. In 1969, Chávez and members of the UFW marched through the Imperial and Coachella Valleys to the border of Mexico to protest growers' use of undocumented immigrants as strikebreakers. Joining him on the march were both Reverend Ralph Abernathy and US Senator Walter Mondale.^[20] In its early years, Chávez and the UFW went so far as to report undocumented immigrants who served as strikebreaking replacement workers, as well as those who refused to unionize, to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

In 1973, the United Farm Workers set up a "wet line" along the United States-Mexico border to prevent Mexican immigrants from entering the United States illegally and potentially undermining the UFW's unionization efforts.^[26] During one such event in which Chávez was not involved, some UFW members, under the guidance of Chávez's cousin Manuel, physically attacked the strikebreakers, after attempts to peacefully persuade them not to cross the border failed.^[27][28][29]

Animal rights[link]

Chávez was a vegan because he believed in animal rights and also for his health.^[30][31]

Death[link]

Chávez died on April 23, 1993, of unspecified natural causes in a rental apartment in San Luis, Arizona. Shortly after his death, his widow, Helen Chávez, donated his black nylon union jacket to the National Museum of American History, a branch of the Smithsonian.^[32]

He is buried at the National Chavez Center, on the headquarters campus of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), at 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Road in the Keene community of unincorporated Kern County, California.^[33]

Legacy[link]

There is a portrait of him in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.^[34]

In 1973, college professors in Mount Angel, Oregon established the first four-year Mexican-American college in the United States. They chose Cesar Chavez as their symbolic figurehead, naming the college Colegio Cesar Chavez. In the book Colegio Cesar Chavez, 1973-1983: A Chicano Struggle for Educational Self-Determination author Carlos Maldonado writes that Chávez visited the campus twice, joining in public demonstrations in support of the college. Though Colegio Cesar Chavez closed in 1983, it remains a recognized part of Oregon history. On its website the Oregon Historical Society writes, "Structured as a 'college-without-walls,' more than 100 students took classes in Chicano Studies, early childhood development, and adult education. Significant financial and administrative problems caused Colegio to close in 1983. Its history represents the success of a grassroots movement."^[35] The Colegio has been described as having been a symbol of the Latino presence in Oregon.^[36]

In 1992, Chávez was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for "Peace on Earth."

On September 8, 1994, Chávez was presented, posthumously, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. The award was received by his widow, Helen Chávez.

The California cities of Long Beach, Modesto, Sacramento, San Diego, Berkeley, and San Jose, California have renamed parks after him, as well as the City of Seattle, Washington. In Amarillo, Texas a bowling alley has been renamed in his memory. In Los Angeles, César E. Chávez Avenue, originally two separate streets (Macy Street west of the Los Angeles River and Brooklyn Avenue east of the river), extends from Sunset Boulevard and runs through East Los Angeles and Monterey Park. In San Francisco, Cesar Chavez Street, originally named Army Street, is named in his memory. At San Francisco State University the student center is also named after him. The University of California, Berkeley, has a César E. Chávez Student Center, which lies across Lower Sproul Plaza from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Student Union. California State University San Marcos's Chavez Plaza includes a statue to Chávez. In 2007, The University of Texas at Austin unveiled its own Cesar Chavez Statue^[37] on campus. Fresno named an adult school, where a majority percent of students' parents or themselves are, or have been, field workers, after Chávez. In Austin, Texas, one of the central thoroughfares was changed to Cesar Chavez Boulevard. In Ogden, Utah, a four-block section of 30th Street was renamed Cesar Chavez Street. In Oakland, there is a library named after him and his birthday, March 31, is a district holiday in remembrance of him. On July 8, 2009, the city of Portland, Oregon, changed the name of 39th Avenue to Cesar Chavez Boulevard.^[38] San Antonio renamed Durago Avenue to Cesar Chavez Avenue in May 2011, not without some controversy. In 2003, the United States Postal Service honored him with a postage stamp. The largest flatland park in Phoenix Arizona is named after Chavez. The park features Cesar Chavez Branch Library and a life-sized statue of Chavez by artist Zarco Guerrero. In April, 2010, the city of Dallas, Texas changed street signage along the downtown street-grade portion of Central Expressway, renaming it for Chávez;^[39] part of the street passes adjacent to the downtown Dallas Farmers Market complex. El Paso has a controlled-access highway, the portion of Texas Loop 375 running beside the Rio Grande, called the Cesar Chavez Border Highway; also in El Paso, the alternative junior-senior high school in the Ysleta Independent School District is named for Chavez. Las Cruces, New Mexico has an elementary school named for Cesar Chavez as well.

The National Chavez Center, Keene, California.

In 2004, the National Chavez Center was opened on the UFW national headquarters campus in Keene by the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. It currently consists of a visitor center, memorial garden and his grave site. When it is fully completed, the 187-acre (0.76 km²) site will include a museum and conference center to explore and share Chávez's work.^[33] On September 14, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Interior added the 187 acres (76 ha) Nuestra Senora Reina de La Paz ranch to the National Register of Historic Places.^[40]

In 2005, a Cesar Chavez commemorative meeting was held in San Antonio, honoring his work on behalf of immigrant farmworkers and other immigrants. Chavez High School in Houston is named in his honor, as is Cesar E. Chavez High School in Delano, California. In Davis, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bakersfield, California and Madison, Wisconsin there are elementary schools named after him in his honor. In Davis, California, there is also an apartment complex named after Chávez which caters specifically to low-income residents and people with physical and mental disabilities. In Racine, Wisconsin, there is a community center named The Cesar Chavez Community Center also in his honor. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, the business loop of I-196 Highway is named "Cesar E Chavez Blvd." The (AFSC) American Friends Service Committee nominated him three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.^[41]

On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Cesar Chavez into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.^[42]

Cesar Chavez's eldest son, Fernando Chávez, and grandson, Anthony Chávez, each tour the country, speaking about his legacy.

Chávez was referenced by Stevie Wonder in the song "Black Man," from the album Songs in the Key of Life, and by Tom Morello in the song "Union Song," from the album One Man Revolution.

On May 18, 2011, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the Navy would be naming the last of 14 Lewis and Clark-class cargo ships after Cesar Chavez.^[43]

One of Cesar Chavez' grandchildren is a professional golfer named Sam Chavez.

Cesar Chavez Day[link]

Cesar Chavez Day poster

Cesar Chavez's birthday, March 31, is celebrated in California as a state holiday, intended to promote service to the community in honor of Chávez's life and work. Many, but not all, state government offices, community colleges, and libraries are closed. Many public schools in the state are also closed. Texas also recognizes the day, and it is an optional holiday in Arizona and Colorado. Although it is not a federal holiday, the President proclaims March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day in the United States, with Americans being urged to "observe this day with appropriate service, community, and educational programs to honor Cesar Chavez's enduring legacy."^[44]

Timeline[link]

<timeline>

ImageSize = width:750 height:700 PlotArea = left:50 right:0 bottom:10 top:10

DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1927 till:1996 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:3 start:1927 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1927

PlotData=

color:red mark:(line, pink) align:left fontsize:M
shift:(25,0) # shift text to right side of bar
at:1927 text:March 31, César Estrada Chávez born near Yuma, Arizona.
at:1942 text:Chavez Begins as a farm worker
at:1944 text:Chavez begins his military service in the US Navy, which lasts 2 years.
at:1946 text:Chavez joins the National Agricultural Workers Union, his first.
at:1948 text:He and his family join the National Farm Workers Labor Union.
at:1952 text:Cesar Chavez is recruited for Saul Alinsky's Community Service Organization,~ an activist group that fought racial and economic discrimination against Chicano residents.
from:1958 till:1959 text:Chávez organizes strikes, marches, and a boycott of merchants~ in Oxnard to protest local unemployment.
at:1962 text:Leaves The CSO and moves to Delano where he founds the Farm Workers Association.
at:1965 shift:(25,-5) text: The NFWA and Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee start the grape boycott.
at:1966 shift:(25,8) text:In March, Chávez marches with 75 others from Delano to the capital, Sacramento, 340 miles~ to bring attention to the plight of farmworkers.
at:1968 text:In February, Chavez begins his historic 25 day fast.
at:1969 text:UFW declares National Grape Boycott Day.
at:1970 text:In December, Chávez imprisoned for challenging injunction against the boycott.
at:1973 text:UFW celebrates first convention in Fresno.
at:1975 text:California Supreme Court declares the short-handled hoe an Unsafe Hand Tool thus banned by California law
at:1977 text:An agreement was reached that gave the UFW the sole right to organize farm workers.
at:1984 text:Chávez announces a new grape boycott, this time focused on pesticides.
at:1988 text:Chávez fasts for 36 days to protest pesticide use
at:1993 text:April 23, after a fast of several days, Chávez dies in his sleep of unknown cause.
at:1994 text:Chávez posthumously receives the US Medal of Freedom from President Clinton.
at:1996 text:Made a memorial of his history.

</timeline>

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Cesar Chavez

	Organized labor portal
	Biography portal
	Latino and Hispanic American portal

• List of places named after Cesar Chavez
• Sí se puede
• Union Organizer

References[link]

References and Further reading[link]

• Bardacke, Frank. Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers. New York and London: Verso 2011. ISBN 978-1-84467-718-4 (hbk.)
• Bardacke, Frank. "Cesar's Ghost: Decline and Fall of the U.F.W.", The Nation (July 26, 1993) online version^{[dead link]}
• Bruns, Roger. Cesar Chavez: A Biography (2005) excerpt and text search
• Burt, Kenneth C. "The Search for a Civic Voice: California Latino Politics," (2007).
• Dalton, Frederick John. The Moral Vision of Cesar Chavez (2003) excerpt and text search
• Daniel, Cletus E. "Cesar Chavez and the Unionization of California Farm Workers." ed. Dubofsky, Melvyn and Warren Van Tine. Labor Leaders in America. University of IL: 1987.
• Etulain, Richard W. Cesar Chavez: A Brief Biography with Documents (2002), 138pp; by a leading historian. excerpt and text search
• Ferriss, Susan, and Ricardo Sandoval, eds. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement (1998) excerpt and text search
• Griswold del Castillo, Richard, and Richard A. Garcia. Cesar Chavez: A Triumph of Spirit (1995). highly favorable treatment
• Hammerback, John C., and Richard J. Jensen. The Rhetorical Career of Cesar Chavez. (1998).
• Jacob, Amanda Cesar Chavez Dominates Face Sayville: Mandy Publishers, 2005.
• Jensen, Richard J., Thomas R. Burkholder, and John C. Hammerback. "Martyrs for a Just Cause: The Eulogies of Cesar Chavez," Western Journal of Communication, Vol. 67, 2003 online edition
• Johnson, Andrea Shan. "Mixed Up in the Making: Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, and the Images of Their Movements." PhD dissertation U. of Missouri, Columbia 2006. 503 pp. DAI 2007 67(11): 4312-A. DA3242742 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• LaBotz, Dan. Cesar Chavez and La Causa (2005), short scholarly biography
• León, Luis D. "Cesar Chavez in American Religious Politics: Mapping the New Global Spiritual Line." American Quarterly 2007 59(3): 857–881. Issn: 0003-0678 Fulltext: Project Muse
• Levy, Jacques E. and Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa. (1975). ISBN 0-393-07494-3
• Matthiessen, Peter. Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can): Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution, (2nd ed. 2000) excerpt and text search^{[dead link]}
• Meister, Dick and Anne Loftis. A Long Time Coming: The Struggle to Unionize America's Farm Workers, (1977).
• Orosco, Jose-Antonio. Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence (2008)
• Prouty, Marco G. Cesar Chavez, the Catholic Bishops, and the Farmworkers' Struggle for Social Justice (University of Arizona Press; 185 pages; 2006). Analyzes the church's changing role from mediator to Chávez supporter in the farmworkers' strike that polarized central California's Catholic community from 1965 to 1970; draws on previously untapped archives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• Ross, Fred. Conquering Goliath : Cesar Chavez at the Beginning. Keene, California: United Farm Workers: Distributed by El Taller Grafico, 1989. ISBN 0-9625298-0-X
• Soto, Gary. Cesar Chavez: a Hero for Everyone. New York: Aladdin, 2003. ISBN 0-689-85923-6 and ISBN 0-689-85922-8 (pbk.)
• Taylor, Ronald B. Chavez and the Farm Workers (1975) online edition

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cesar Chavez

• "The Story of Cesar Chavez" United Farmworker's official biography of Chávez
• César E. Chávez Chronology County of Los Angeles Public Library
• Five Part Series on Cesar Chavez Los Angeles Times, Kids' Reading Room Classic, October 2000
• The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworker's Struggle PBS Documentary
• Farmworker Movement Documentation Project
• New York Times obituary, April 24, 1993
• Walter P. Reuther Library – President Clinton presents Helen Chavez with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1994
• Jerry Cohen Papers in the Archives & Special Collections at Amherst College. Cohen was General Counsel of the United Farm Workers of America and personal attorney of Cesar Chavez from 1967-1979.