Tag Archives: social activism

Sí se puede: Celebrating Cesar Chavez Day (and a contest!)

Posted on by

Cesar E. Chavez (1927–1993) is best remembered as the founder of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO (UFW). A strong believer in the principles of nonviolence, he effectively employed peaceful tactics such as fasts, boycotts, strikes, and pilgrimages. Last Friday, President Obama proclaimed today Cesar Chavez Day:

One of our Nation’s great civil rights leaders, Cesar Estrada Chavez came of age as a migrant farm worker, witnessing the injustice that pervaded fields and vineyards across California. Facing discrimination, poverty, and dangerous working conditions, laborers toiled for little pay and without access to even the most basic necessities. Yet amidst hardship and abuse, Cesar Chavez saw the promise of change—the unlimited potential of a community organized around a common purpose. Today we celebrate his courage, reflect on his lifetime of advocacy, and recognize the power in each of us to lift up lives and pursue social justice.

For more than three decades Chavez led the first successful farm workers union in American history, achieving gains such as fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and human living conditions. However, his work transcended any one movement or cause. Chavez inspired millions of Americans to seek social justice and civil rights for the poor and disenfranchised. He advocated for nonviolent social reform. He was an environmentalist and labor leader. Ultimately, he forged an extraordinary and diverse national coalition of students, middle-class consumers, trade unionists, religious groups, women, and minorities.

Chavez’s motto in life—si se puede (“it can be done”)—embodies the uncommon and invaluable legacy he left behind. The U.S. Postal Service honored Chavez with a stamp in 2003. “He was the champion for hardworking but underpaid workers,” said art director Carl T. Herrman, who designed the stamp. “His life shows that you don’t have to be a wealthy person to make a difference in America.”

To celebrate Cesar Chavez Day, we’ve devised a little contest for you all. Here’s the question: Who famously called Chavez “one of the heroic figures of our time”? Send your answers to uspsstamps [at] gmail [dot] com. Of those who answer correctly, five will be chosen at random to receive an official USPS program from the Cesar E. Chavez First Day of Issue Ceremony held in Los Angeles on April, 23, 2003. You have until midnight tomorrow (Sunday, April 1) to enter. Good luck, and remember, spelling counts!

National Book Month: W. E. B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk

Posted on by

Of the many important activists in the fight for equality for African Americans, W. E. B. Du Bois is one of my favorite figures. Born during Andrew Johnson’s presidency in 1868, Du Bois lived to the age of 95. In his nine and a half decades of life, Du Bois saw the nation grow, change, fight, and suffer—and he witnessed the gross miscarriages of justice leveled against black Americans.

An activist, sociologist, writer, and brilliant scholar, Du Bois penned 21 books in his lifetime and over 100 significant essays. He was also the first black man to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. His seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk, was groundbreaking in 1903—dissecting the emancipation of blacks and its effects on his race in the 40 years since—and is one of the only books I studied in school that still resonates with me.

He begins his treatise with a simple statement of purpose:

Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.

Knowing that a great majority of his readership would be white Americans, Du Bois addresses the issue of racial inequality as a national problem, not one merely for the blacks to sort out on their own. He also lays out his views on the role of black leaders—views which won him great admiration from many prominent African Americans who saw Du Bois as a mentor, including Martin Luther King, Jr.

His command of language always seems to me much more powerful, and ultimately effective, than a heated, emotional plea for justice. Though his passion is evident in the arguments he constructs, his tone is clear and collected.

This book established Du Bois as an important writer in the American canon. Considered a radical in his time, Du Bois was instrumental in the creation of the NAACP and left his mark on the burgeoning civil right movement in countless ways. His activism paved the way for many of his well-known successors.