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SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 674

	WHEREAS, A postage stamp honoring Cesar E. Chavez, one
of America's foremost champions of social justice, is being 
unveiled by the United States Postal Service on April 24, 2003, 
in San Antonio, Texas; and
	WHEREAS, Mr. Chavez gained national renown as a founder and 
longtime leader of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO, 
an organization that fused advocacy for farm laborers with 
activism for civil rights; and
	WHEREAS, Born March 31, 1927, near Yuma, Arizona, and later 
raised in California, Mr. Chavez spent much of his youth as a 
migrant laborer; as a Latino and a farmworker, he learned 
firsthand about the indignities of second-class citizenship and 
the unhealthy working and living conditions endured by those who 
tended the fields; and
	WHEREAS, After serving in the United States Navy from 1944 
to 1946, Cesar Chavez returned to California, and in 1948, he 
married Helen Fabela; four years later he became a community 
organizer for the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil 
rights group that carried out most of its work in urban areas, and 
by the late 1950s, he had become its national director; and
	WHEREAS, When in 1962 the group declined to organize 
California farmworkers, Mr. Chavez and his colleague Dolores 
Huerta left the organization to found the National Farm Workers 
Association, a forerunner of the United Farm Workers; their 
fledgling union gained national prominence just three years 
later when it came to the support of workers who were striking 
California's grape growers; in addition to assuming leadership 
of the strike, Mr. Chavez launched a successful, nationwide 
consumers' boycott of nonunion grapes; and
	WHEREAS, By the end of the five-year-long strike, the 
United Farm Workers had organized all of the California 
table-grape industry and negotiated the first collective 
bargaining agreements between American farmworkers and 
corporations; in 1975, Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers 
further succeeded in securing the passage of California's 
Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law in our nation's 
history granting farmworkers the right to unionize and bargain 
collectively; other accomplishments under Cesar's leadership 
included the establishment of a farmworkers' medical plan, 
pension plan, and credit union, as well as the National Farm 
Workers Service Center, Incorporated, whose projects included 
the development of affordable housing, health clinics, 
cooperatives, and a retirement home; and
	WHEREAS, Throughout his life, Cesar Chavez sought to 
advance La Causa, the movement, through such nonviolent means as 
strikes, pickets, and boycotts; on several occasions, he also 
undertook lengthy fasts to draw public attention to the 
farmworkers' struggle; and
	WHEREAS, Mr. Chavez continued to lead the United Farm 
Workers until his death on April 23, 1993; more than 50,000 
people from across the country gathered to mourn him at his 
funeral, indicative of the far-reaching impact he had made on 
American society; and

	WHEREAS, Since that time, numerous schools, streets, 
scholarships, monuments, buildings, and parks have been named in 
his memory, and a number of our country's cities have initiated 
annual celebrations in tribute to his life; several states, 
including Texas, have declared his birthday, March 31, a state 
holiday; in 1994, Mr. Chavez was posthumously awarded the 
nation's highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and
	WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez chose to devote his life to the 
pursuit of social and economic justice through nonviolent means, 
and his courage and steadfastness in this great work brought 
improved health, greater security, and hope for a brighter future 
to countless people; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas,
78th Legislature, hereby celebrate the issuance of the
Cesar E. Chavez stamp by the United States Postal Service
and join others throughout our nation in honoring the life of
this revered American.


Barrientos                                                                  

Van de Putte                                                                  




________________________________ 
    President of the Senate
 
    I hereby certify that the 
above Resolution was adopted by 
the Senate on April 24, 2003.



________________________________ 
    Secretary of the Senate



________________________________ 
     Member, Texas Senate



________________________________ 
     Member, Texas Senate