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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Cesar Chavez Gets Close-up in a First-of-Its-Kind Biography

    Ten states recognize this as Cesar Chavez Day . In California, Colorado and Texas it's an official holiday. Arguably the most important Latino leader in US history, in the 1960's Chavez organized poor Mexican farm workers against rich California farmers using boycotts, marches and other forms of nonviolent action.

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Ten states recognize this as

    Cesar Chavez Day

    . In California, Colorado and Texas it's an official holiday. Arguably the most important Latino leader in US history, in the 1960's Chavez organized poor Mexican farm workers against rich California farmers using boycotts, marches and other forms of nonviolent action. In the process, he inspired a generation of activists for other causes as well as his own. This weekend, an admiring

    new biopic

    was released, but a new biography tells a more complex story.

    Miriam Pawel is author of

    The Crusades of Cesar Chavez

    .

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Benjamin Gottlieb

      Reporter, Fill-in Host

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Jenny Hamel

      KCRW

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Gideon Brower

      Independent Producer

    • KCRW placeholder

      Miriam Pawel

      author, journalist, and historian

      NewsNationalPolitics
    Back to To the Point