HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04-14 Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta
César Chávez and Dolores Huerta
WHEREAS, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later
became the United Farm Workers Association; and WHEREAS, they understood the importance of coalition-building and worked in conjunction with other farm
labor movements to make the United Farm Workers Association a reality. They worked to call for better conditions for
farm workers and their families. They took on table grape growers who had been exploiting farmworkers and began a
nationwide grape boycott that led to the first farmworker union contracts; and
WHEREAS, their mission was to reclaim dignity, fair wages, medical coverage, benefits, and humane living
conditions for hundreds of thousands of people; and
WHEREAS, the popular phrase “Sí, se puede” is attributed to their activism and civil rights work. It was Dolores
Huerta who first said the words which translate in English to “Yes I can, or yes, we can,” as she rallied support for
worker and immigrant rights; and
WHEREAS, through fierce advocacy, Dolores Huerta was instrumental in securing the California Agricultural
Labor Relations Act of 1975, a first-in-the- nation law that extended collective bargaining rights to farmworkers; and
WHEREAS, César Chávez drew attention to environmental issues such as the use of chemical pesticides that
endangered the lives of not only farmworkers, but also consumers; and
WHEREAS, their catalyst to act came from their early introductions to inequities with César Chávez born on
March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona and later moved to California after his parents lost their farm during the Great
Depression and became migrant workers. Dolores Huerta was born on April 10, 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. At a
young age she was exposed to the hardships that her community faced, but she was greatly inspired by her mother’s
work as a community activist; and
WHEREAS, in March 2014, President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31st as César Chávez Day and in 2019,
California named April 10th as Dolores Huerta Day and in March 2022, the Palo Alto City Council voted to annually
celebrate these two iconic leaders; and
WHEREAS, both César Chávez and Dolores Huerta have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom because
through self-sacrifice, a commitment to nonviolence, and their spirituality, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta
championed a social justice movement that changed our nation; and
NOW, THEREFORE, the City of Palo Alto hereby honors and recognizes César Chávez and Dolores Huerta on
this 14th day of April 2025 and encourages celebration through education and community service.
Presented: April 14, 2025
______________________________ Ed Lauing Mayor
Proclamation