They were angered by boycotts of grapes and lettuce that cut into their profits. Growers resisted his calls for higher wages and laws mandating better working conditions for farm laborers. The Perris library, a Riverside community center and a Colton park also carry his name.īut when he was alive, and for years after his death in 1993, Chávez was controversial. Schools are named after him in Corona, San Bernardino and Coachella. Probably no other Latino leader in the United States is as lauded as Chávez.

And it helped propel Medina into politics. Medina, who became an activist at Purdue in support of a lettuce boycott that Chávez’s United Farm Workers had called, said Chávez’s steely determination to better the lives of agricultural workers despite the long odds is one reason Chávez is so admired. “He showed you could accomplish something many people did not think could be done.” “For me, César Chávez was a huge example and an inspiration,” Medina said, recalling how Chávez spearheaded the first nationwide movement for farmworker rights.

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