Richard Chavez

Who was Richard Chavez?

Richard Estrada Chavez was an American labor leader, organizer and activist. Chavez was the younger brother of labor leader, César Chávez, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, now known as the United Farm Workers. Richard Chavez is credited with building the United Farm Workers into a major California agricultural and political organization.

Chavez was born to a migrant family on November 12, 1929, near Yuma, Arizona, on a family farm. He worked as a child migrant worker during the Great Depression. He transitioned from farm work to carpentry and moved to San Jose, California. In the early 1960s, Chavez would leave his job as a carpenter in order to assist Cesar Chavez in his effort to organize California farm workers. Richard Chavez was a co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, which would later become known as the United Farm Workers.

Richard Chavez spearheaded the construction of the United Farm Workers' union hall, which became its headquarters, in Delano, California. Paul Chavez, the president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation and son of Cesar Chavez, told the Los Angeles Times that "was there before there was a union." In 1962, Richard Chavez designed the now iconic logo of the United Farm Workers, which features a black Aztec eagle. Decades later, U.S. President Barack Obama called the eagle "a symbol of hope that has helped carry the struggle for the rights of farm workers forward for almost five decades."