Cesar Estrada Chávez (1927-1993) was a Mexican-American labor leader, community organizer, businessman, and civil rights activist. He co-founded, with Dolores Huerta, the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to become the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union. Chavez advocated for the use of direct but nonviolent actions, such as pickets and boycotts, to pressure farm owners to grant striking workers’ demands. Chavez notably organized the Delano, California grape strike of 1965-1970, and later worked to expand the UFW influence beyond California.

In the 1980s, Chavez focused on anti-pesticide campaigns, calling for boycotts of California-grown table grapes grown with pesticides. Here, Chavez speaks at a 1985 press conference in Seattle, calling on Washington consumers to join a new national boycott of table grapes due to the "lawlessness" of grape growers, and their use of hazardous pesiticides. Chavez called for free union elections, good faith bargaining, and the end of the use of five agricultural chemicals that were threatening the lives and health of both farm workers and consumers.

Caption information source: "Chavez wants state resident to join in boycott of grapes," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 5, 1985, p. 11.