The Crusades of Cesar Chavez (80 page)

Other abbreviations in the notes and text:

Archives

Jerry Cohen Papers, Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

El Teatro Campesino Papers, University of California at Santa Barbara (ETC)

Farm Labor Collection, Archives of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Los Angeles (AALA)

Field Foundation Papers, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin

Gerald Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Herman Gallegos Papers, Special Collections, Cecil Green Library, Stanford University

Industrial Areas Foundation Records, University of Illinois, Chicago (IAF UIC)

Industrial Areas Foundation Records, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin (IAF Austin)

Jacques E. Levy Research Collection on Cesar Chavez, Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (JEL)

Maricopa County Organizing Project Records, Arizona State University, Phoenix (MCOP)

Donald McDonnell/Spanish Mission Band papers, Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Menlo Park (AASF)

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California

Fred Ross Papers, Special Collections, Cecil Green Library, Stanford University

San Joaquin Valley Farm Labor Collection, California State University, Fresno (SJVFLC)

Emil Schwarzhaupt Foundation Papers, University of Chicago, Chicago (ESF)

Synanon Foundation Archives, UCLA

United Packinghouse Workers of America Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison (UPWA)

United States Department of Labor, Record Group 174, Records Relating to the Mexican Labor (“Bracero”) Program, National Archives and Research Administration, San Bruno

Private Collections

Cois Byrd papers

Tom Dalzell papers

Chris Hartmire papers

Eliseo Medina papers

Jessica Govea papers

Dissertations

Brown, Jerald. “The United Farm Workers Grape Strike and Boycott.” Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1972.

Pitti, Gina. “To Hear About God in Spanish.” Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 2003.

Rose, Margaret. “Women in the United Farm Workers.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1988.

Thompson, Mark. “The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, 1959–1961.” M.A. thesis, Cornell University, 1963.

Books

Bardacke, Frank.
Trampling out the Vintage.
New York: Verso, 2011.

Dunne, John Gregory.
Delano: The Story of the California Grape Strike.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1967.

Ganz, Marshall.
Why David Sometimes Wins.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Garcia, Matthew.
From the Jaws of Victory.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.

Levy, Jacques.
Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa.
New York: W. W. Norton, 1975.

London, Joan, and Henry Anderson.
So Shall Ye Reap.
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1970.

Matthiessen, Peter.
Sal Si Puedes (Escape if You Can): Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.

Mitchell, Don.
They Saved the Crops.
Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012.

Pawel, Miriam.
The Union of Their Dreams.
New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009.

Ross, Fred
. Conquering Goliath: Cesar Chavez at the Beginning.
Keene, CA: El Taller Grafico Press, 1989.

Taylor, Ronald B.
Chavez and the Farm Workers.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1975.

Websites

Farmworker Documentation Project (FMDP),
www.farmworkermovement.com

Fred Ross Sr. Oral History Archive (Ross Tapes),
www.farmworkermovement.com/media/oral_history

FBI files (only a fraction of the files are available online),
http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/chavez.htm

California Agricultural Labor Relations Board,
http://alrb.ca.gov

Interviews

Douglass Adair, August 15, 2010

Henry P. Anderson, March 31 and June 2, 2011

Tom Barry, January 20, 2012

Jim Braun, June 27, 2012

Kit Bricca, July 9, 2013

Wendy Goepel Brooks, August 19, 2011, and June 7, 2013

Mario Bustamante, May 13, 2005, June 22 and September 3, 2008

Chava Bustamante, June 17, 2008

Cois Byrd, February 19, 2008

Terence Cannon, June 14, 2012

Ron Caplan, November 28, 2011

William Carder, June 26, 2006, and June 18, 2008

LeRoy Chatfield, February 28, 2013

Anna Chavez, January 19, 2012

Librado Chavez Jr., March 7, 2012

Bob (Jasper) Coffman, December 17, 2011

Jerry Cohen, April 23 and June 5, 2008, June 5, 2009

Ida Cousino, September 17 and December 17, 2011

Jerry Cox, May 25, 2012

Tom Dalzell, June 26, 2006

Sue Carhart Darweesh, June 15, 2012

Mark Day, November 17, 2011

Alfredo DeAvila, February 2, 2012

Frank Denison, February 12, 2008

Don Devereux, August 31, 2011

Susan Drake, September 22, 2011

Peter Edelman, November 28, 2012

Ellen Eggers, May 7, June 28, and December 17, 2008

Bill (Rampujan) Esher, September 20, 2011

Bob Fitch, June 21, 2013

Ed Frankel, September 11, 2011

Herman Gallegos, March 31, 2011

Marshall Ganz, October 2, 2005

Margaret Govea, March 2, 2007, and June 9, 2008

Gustavo Gutierrez, November 1, 2011

Chris Hartmire, June 23, August 20, September 19, and October 31, 2006, and March 14, 2007

David Havens, September 26, 2012

Joe Herman, July 18, 2006

Ruben Hernandez, November 30, 2011

Fred Hirsch, September 22, 2011

Tom Hubbard, February 3, 2012

Donna Haber Kornberg, September 15, 2011

Henry Lacayo, November 21, 2011

Gretchen Laue, June 22 and September 3, 2008

Michael Lee, March 26, 2013

Sabino Lopez, August 5, 2005, and September 24, 2007

Howard Marguleas, February 2, 2006, and March 14, 2011

Philip Mason, October 20, 2008

Peter Mattheissen, July 15, 2013

Donald McDonnell, January 26 and November 11, 2011

Eliseo Medina, February 22, July 3, and December 29, 2008

Liza Hirsch Medina, May 8, 2006

Mike Miller, July 11, 2012

Crosby Milne, January 26, 2007

Marion Moses, June 20, 2006, January 27, 2011, and February 25, 2012

John Moyer, April 5, 2011

Kathy Murguia, November 25, 2011, and August 3, 2012

Tom Nassif, February 18, 2011

Sandy Nathan, May 17, 2007, February 25, 2008, and April 11 and June 18, 2008

Richard Ofshe, August 4, 2011

Antonio Orendain, December 11, 2011

Esther Padilla, May 21, 2008

Gilbert Padilla, June 20, 2007, May 21, 2008, and January 25, 2011

Rosario Pelayo, May 13, 2005

Jose Renteria, August 5, 2005

Cruz Reynoso, August 3, 2011

Virginia Rodriguez, March 30, 2011

Fred Ross Jr., February 24, 2005

Jim Rutkowski, September 12, 2011

Lloyd Saatjian, July 12, 2006

Joe Serda, July 11, 2006

Dave Smith, January 22, 2013

Bob Thompson, June 6, 2011

Art Torres, June 6, 2013

Larry Tramutola, January 26, 2011

Luis Valdez, August 14, 2011, and June 21, 2013

Don Villarejo, June 6, 2011

Scott Washburn, August 20, 2008, and November 1, 2011

Martin Zaninovich, October 2, 2006, and September 20, 2007

Notes

Prologue

1
   “mystical figure”
www.mindfully.org/Reform/Cesar-Chavez9nov84.htm

2
   argyle vest
Photo courtesy of Michael G. Lee

3
   pork tenderloin
menu from Commonwealth Club papers, Hoover Institution Library, Box 500, Folder 16

Chapter 1

Sources: Oral histories by Cesar, Rita, and Richard Chavez and other family members, the earliest and most complete conducted in the late 1960s by Jacques Levy. Primary interviews include: multiple interviews by Levy with Cesar Chavez; Chavez family interview by Levy, Jul. 1969; Rita Chavez interviewed by Levy, May 22, 1969; Bruce Perry, Aug. 7, 1995; Paradigm Productions, n.d.; Santa Clara County Oral History project, Aug. 22, 2011; National Park Service interview, Nov. 22, 2011; Richard Chavez interviewed by Levy, May 7, 1969, and Jun. 16, 1974; Ross, Mar. 1969; Cal State Northridge Oral History project, Mar. 14, 1997; Paradigm Productions, n.d.; Juana Chavez interviewed by Cesar, Sep. 5, 1984; author interviews with Hernandez, Mary Chavez, and Librado (Lenny) Chavez Jr.

1
   basic facts
1930 Census

2
   crossed into Texas
In the 1930 census, Librado and Dorotea reported crossing the border in 1898. In later accounts, Librado offered slightly different dates, but 1898 appears most likely. Birthdates are similarly murky. Librado’s obituary gave Aug. 17, 1881, as his birthday but in later records he gave his birth year as 1888, which would be more consistent with his accounts of crossing as a young child.

3
   thriving business
Tape of Juana Chavez interviewed by Cesar, Sep. 5, 1984, UFWA

4
   filed a claim
Deed, Yuma County Registrar-Recorder Office

5
   To the south
Map drawn by Richard Chavez, JEL, Box 20, Folder 430

6
   bought the cluster of buildings
Mortgages and deeds, Yuma County Recorder’s office

7
   before she married
Details of Juana’s life from Sep. 5, 1984, interview

8
   deeded the farm
Deed, Yuma County Recorder

9
   auctioned off
Yuma Daily Sun
,
legal announcements, Jul. 30, 1937; Oct. 29, 1937

10
   filed suit
Yuma Daily Sun
, Dec. 7, 1937; Yuma County deeds

11
   sold the land
Yuma County deeds;
Yuma Daily Sun
, Jun. 9, 1939

Chapter 2

Sources: The account of the family’s early years in California is drawn from multiple oral histories by Cesar, Rita, and Richard Chavez (see Chapter 1 notes); author interviews with Hernandez and Librado Chavez Jr.

1
   bestseller list
http://www.steinbeckinstitute.org/grapes_historical.html

2
   average student
Miguel Hidalgo Junior High school records, courtesy of Bruce Perry

3
   developed circuits
JEL, Box 5, Folder 181

4
   oversight in the grapes
JEL, Box 1, Folder 132

5
   dishonorably discharged
Manuel Chavez navy record, NARA

6
   one arrest
FBI files refer to a Jan. 24, 1944, arrest that was dismissed; no records from the case survive. Chavez never mentioned it other than noting on his navy application that he was arrested for “fighting.” He often told a story about being arrested because he refused to sit on the Mexican side of the Delano movie theater, but I have found no documentation to support that incident.