Who was Cesar Chavez? Essay and photographs restore this man to his place in American history.
Chavez has become a hero, an icon, so it's difficult for people, especially young people, to understand him simply as a man. Esteemed Latin American scholar and writer Ilan Stavans, supported by 40-plus photographs from archival collections at the Cesar Chavez Foundation, restores this man's humanity so that readers can understand his struggles as a labor organizer and civil rights activist for farm workers.
The book discusses his growing up and his family; his comadre Dolores Huerta, who stood with him from the beginning; his relationship with Dr. King and other activists in the broader struggles for civil rights for all peoples of color; and his insistence on being an activist for the rights of farm workers when so much media attention was given to the civil rights activists in the cities.
Ilan Stavans is a nationally respected Jewish-Latino writer and scholar. His story Morirse està en hebreo was made into the award-winning movie "My Mexican Shivah" produced by John Sayles. His books include Cesar Chavez: An Organizer's Tale (Penguin, 2008), Dictionary Days (Graywolf), The Disappearance (TriQuarterly) and Resurrecting Hebrew (Random House). Stavans has received numerous awards, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Jewish Book Award, the Latino Book Award and Chile's Presidential Medal. He is a Professor in Latin American Culture at Amherst College.