The Life of Cesar Chavez: A Time Line

March 31 1927	born in Yuma, Arizona
1938			Chavez family leaves Yuma to work in California as migrant farm workers
1944                                   Chavez joins the Navy
1948			Cesar marries Helen, moves to San Jose
1952			Living in San Jose; meets Fred Ross;  CSO involvement begins.
1958			Cesar works in Oxnard for 18 months confronting the bracero issue		
1960			Chavez becomes General Director of the CSO; Dolores Huerta his assistant.
1961	Chavez decides to resign from CSO
1962			Chavez  establishes NFWA (or FWA) Sept. 30 in Fresno
			Union has first convention 211 members
Sept. 16 1965		Chavez's union votes to join Filipino workers in a grape strike.
October 1965		Grape boycott begins
March  1965		Pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento begins.
April 1966                          DiGiorgio grape boycott begins		
March 10, 1968		Cesar begins a fast for non-violence which lasts 25 days
May 18 1969                      March from Coachella to Calexico.
1970			Headquarters moved to La Paz from Delano
July 15, 1970		26 growers in Delano sign contracts with UFW
July 30 1970                       Lettuce strike begins, conflict with Teamsters.
June 1973		Struggle with teamsters over grape contracts
July 30, 1973		Gallo boycott and strike
August 14, 1973	 Nergi Daifullah killed, first martyr of UFW.
August 16, 1973	 Juan de la Cruz shot to death
January 15, 1974	 Chavez awarded the Martin Luther King Jr.  Nonviolent Peace Prize by Coretta                                                                                King.  
June 5, 1975		Farm labor bill passses
May 1976		Proposition. 14 drive gets 719,00 signatures and passes forcing funding of the Farm Labor Board.
March 10, 1977	Teamsters withdraw from farm labor organizing. Pact signed with UFW.
June 25, 1978		Cesar and Helen put in jail in Yuma for violating Ariz. injunction against picketing.
Feb. 10, 1979		Rufino Contreras killed in Imperial Valley; moratorium called for 25 days on strike
March 1979		Resignation of Jerry Cohen, Marshal Ganz  and Jim Drake.
1984			Grape boycott launched
July 16, 1988		Chavez begins 36 day fast in Keene to protest pesticide use.
April 23, 1993	               Chavez dies in San Luis Arizona