Visit the Chandler Downtown library to view this exhibit, Jan. 10 - 31, 2026.
The traveling exhibit highlights César Chávez’s deep connection to Arizona and its communities. From the 1960’s through the early 1990’s, Chávez visited the state and the Phoenix valley to pursue greater community participation and to widen the support for farmworkers’ rights and fair treatment. He also worked in Chandler and with individuals from the community. This exhibit features history and photos about his life and contributions to local communities, and the U.S. farm labor movement.
Chávez is best known for his advocacy work from the 1950s through the 1980s to improve wages and conditions for the many farm workers in California and the southwest. He led strikes, fasts and boycotts. He ultimately helped create the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO. Chávez was born in the Yuma area in 1927, and died in 1993. His most publicized action in Arizona was a 1972 fast in Phoenix to protest a law outlawing farmworkers the right to strike, boycott or organize.
This exhibit is on loan from the Tempe History Museum.
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