| Years |
Age |
Events |
| 1927 |
0 |
Born on March 31 in Yuma, Arizona. |
| 1933 |
6 |
Family moves to California as farm workers. |
| 1942 |
15 |
Graduates from eighth grade at Our Lady of Victory School in San Jose, California. |
| 1944-1946 |
17 |
Serves in the US Navy during World War II. |
| 1948 |
21 |
Marries Helen Fabela on October 22 in San Jose, California. |
| 1952 |
25 |
Becomes a community organizer for the Community Service Organization (CSO) in San Jose. |
| 1953 |
26 |
Moves to Bakersfield, California, to work for CSO. |
| 1956 |
29 |
Moves to Los Angeles to work as assistant director of CSO. |
| 1958 |
31 |
Becomes director of CSO. |
| 1959 |
32 |
Resigns from CSO to focus on organizing farm workers. |
| 1962 |
35 |
Founds the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Dolores Huerta in Delano, California. |
| 1965 |
38 |
Leads a strike against grape growers in Delano, known as the Delano grape strike. |
| 1966 |
39 |
Merges NFWA with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC); leads a march from Delano to Sacramento to deliver a list of grievances to Governor Pat Brown. |
| 1968 |
41 |
Goes on a 25-day hunger strike to protest violence against strikers and to call for negotiations with grape growers. |
| 1969 |
42 |
UFWOC signs its first collective bargaining agreement with a grape grower. |
| 1970 |
43 |
UFWOC changes its name to United Farm Workers of America (UFW). |
| 1972 |
45 |
Supports George McGovern’s presidential campaign and speaks at the Democratic National Convention. |
| 1973 |
46 |
Awarded the Jefferson Award for Public Service. |
| 1974 |
47 |
Awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize. |
| 1975 |
48 |
California passes the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, giving farm workers the right to unionize and bargain collectively. |
| 1977 |
50 |
Meets with President Jimmy Carter at the White House to discuss farm worker issues. |
| 1984 |
57 |
Publishes “An Organizer’s Tale: Speeches.” |
| 1988 |
61 |
Leads a march from Delano to Sacramento, known as the Peregrinación de la Paz, to protest the use of pesticides and to register voters; goes on a hunger strike to protest the use of pesticides. |
| 1993 |
66 |
Dies on April 23 in San Luis, Arizona, from natural causes related to heart disease. |
