cesar chavez fought to organize farm workers in california.
who fought to organize farm workers in california?
cesar chavez
in 1965, valdez returned to delano, where he enlisted in cesar chavez's mission to organize farm workers into a comprehensive union. valdez brought together farm workers and students to form "el teatro campesino", a farm worker's theater troupe. el teatro was known for touring migrant camps with their actos, one-act plays, which were usually around fifteen minutes long. the plays were used to educate and inform not only the farm workers, but also the public. valdez believed that humor was a major asset to his plays in el teatro campesino as it was a tool to lift the morale of strikers. social and political commentary were intertwined within the humor to accomplish the goals of el teatro campesino. original plays of el teatro were based on the experiences of farm workers, but by 1967 their subject matter expanded to other aspects of chicano culture; "los vendidos", for example, discusses various chicano stereotypes. although valdez left el teatro in 1967, his legacy lived on. thanks in large part to valdez and el teatro campesino, the 1970s saw an explosion of chicano theater. theater groups sprang up with surprising speed on college campuses and in communities throughout the united states. what began as a farm workers' theater in the migrant camps of delano flooded into a national chicano theater movement.
luis valdez
but chavez and huerta quickly realized that they shared a common goal of helping improve the lives and wages of farm workers, so they co-founded the national farm workers association. in 1962, after the cso turned down chávez's request, as their president, to organize farm workers, chávez and huerta resigned from the cso. she went to work for the national farm workers association, which would later merge with the agricultural workers organizing committee to become the united farm workers organizing committee. "dolores's organizing skills were essential to the growth of this budding organization."
dolores huerta