H.R. No. 26

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS, Americans across the country will pause on March 31,

2011, Cesar Chavez Day, to pay tribute to the inspiring life and

achievements of the founder and longtime leader of the United Farm

Workers of America (UFW), AFL-CIO, on the anniversary of his birth;

and

WHEREAS, Born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona, and later raised in

California, Cesar Estrada 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 U.S. 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 (CSO), a Latino civil rights group

that focused most of its work in urban areas, and by the late 1950s

he had become its national director; and

WHEREAS, When in 1962 the CSO 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 UFW; their fledgling union gained national

prominence just three years later when it came to the support of

workers who were striking against 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 UFW 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 UFW

further succeeded in securing the passage of California's

Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law in U.S. history

granting farmworkers the right to unionize and bargain

collectively; numerous other gains achieved under his leadership

included the establishment of a farmworkers' medical plan, pension

plan, and credit union, as well as the National Farm Workers Service

Center, Inc., whose projects include the development of affordable

housing, health clinics, cooperatives, and a retirement home; and

WHEREAS, Over the course of his life, Cesar Chavez sought to

advance La Causa, the movement, through nonviolent means--through

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 UFW until his death

on April 23, 1993; more than 50,000 people from throughout the

nation 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, a number of U.S. cities have initiated annual

celebrations in tribute to his life, and 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 House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas

Legislature hereby honor the life of Cesar Chavez and join the

citizens of the Lone Star State in commemorating the 84th

anniversary of his birth on March 31, 2011.

Alonzo

______________________________ Speaker of the House

I certify that H.R. No. 26 was unanimously adopted by a rising vote of the House on February 24, 2011.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House