Passion or Profession: Labor leader

Period: 1927–1993

Chavez was born in Arizona to a family of farmers. When his family could no longer afford to maintain the farm, he and his family became migrant workers. As a child he attended 65 schools while his family moved around to make a living. Chavez decided something needed to be done to improve the lives of workers, so he organized the National Farm Workers Association, a labor union that demanded more pay and better conditions. His hunger strikes and boycotts helped change conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers.