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This was a short-lived mural in the city of West Jordan, Utah. It commemorates the work of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, founders of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). Following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, both labor leaders fought to improve the lives of farm workers in California, through non-violent protests. Eventually they would merge the NFWA, with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) formed by the Filipino-American labor organizer Larry Dulay Itliong, to create the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union known today. One of Chavez’s most noted accomplishments was the Delano Grape Strike of 1965-70, which highlighted the treatment of farmworkers by major table grape growers. Through a combination of consumer boycotts, marches, community organizing and nonviolent resistance, the organizations that would become the UFW, were able secure a collective bargaining agreement that benefited more than 10,000 farmworkers.
While Cesar Chavez died in 1993, and lost a lot of support due to controversial actions in his later years, he remains a folk hero among Mexican-Americans. And Dolores Huerta, even at the current age of 90, remains active as a labor leader and civil rights activist.
