The United Farm Workers Movement: Cesar Chavez

During the 1960’s, many movements rose such as the counterculture movement, the hippie movement, the environmental movement, the SCLC, the SNCC, the Native American movement, Women’s civil rights, United Farm workers, etc. During the 1960’s the American culture would start to change because of these movements. The United Farm Workers movement for example fought for the rights of Mexican americans. Their goal during the 1960’s was to get decent working conditions and more job opportunities. The United Farm Workers movement was led primarily by Dolores Huerta, Gilbert Padilla, and Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez coordinated the protests, and was at the time the President of the United Farm workers movement. Like Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez believed in peaceful protests, and found boycotts and strikes to be most effective. Cesar Chavez said, “there is no such thing as defeat in nonviolence”.Before the United Farm Workers movement, immigrants were not allowed to join unions and other programs which would provide benefits. The Bracero Program helped provide farm owners with Mexican farm workers. With the quality of the work environment, increase in pay, and other job opportunities Mexicans would feel more comfortable with living in the United States, and would feel as if moving to the United States would be more financially beneficial than remaining in Mexico. During the late 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s the population of immigrants in the United States will grow exponentially because the UFW fought for an increase in pay, improved working conditions, and other job benefits to be offered to immigrants.

With the United Farm Workers Movement, and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, Mexican Americans and other immigrants were g...

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...heir fight for rights would be successful as well.

The spark in the number of immigrants entering the United States began in the late nineteen sixties to the early nineteen seventies. People came to the United States because the United Farm Workers movement got jobs to provided higher salaries, improved working conditions, health benefits, minimizing segregation within the work environment, retirement plans, and even formed a credit union specifically for farm workers and immigrants. These were all factors which contributed to the increase in immigrants in the United States. (As life began to improve for immigrants within the United States, others thought the same could happen to them). Many immigrants thought of this as an opportunity to form a new and improved lifestyle. To this day the number of immigrants continue to grow, and their lives increasingly improve.