Search Results for: civil rights

SUMMARY: James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – November 30, 1987) American novelist and civil rights activist.
James Baldwin Quotes.
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James Arthur Baldwin was an American writer, novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and civil rights activist. He his most notably known for his novels on sexual and personal identity and biting essays on civil rights movements in the United States. His first novel, “Go tell it on the mountain” was the one that gave him his first dose of fame. Several of his novels also dealt with homosexual connections and the pressures of being black. This was well before the social and cultural groups could be assumed.

Early Life

James Baldwin was born in 1924 in Harlem, New York City. He was the first of his mother’s nine children but never met his biological father nor did he even know the man’s identity. At the age of three his mother married a man by the name of David Baldwin who became his father figure, but was a harsh and cruel man. James Baldwin grew up in extreme poverty but found his love through literature and read many books as a child. Although his stepfather opposed his literary aspirations, Baldwin found support from his teacher and from the mayor of New York City, Fiorello H. LaGuardia. When Baldwin was 12 he published his first story in the church newspaper. By the time he was 17 he had graduated from high school, left home and had been employed in several ill paid jobs. It was then that he began his literary apprenticeship.

Inspiration

Like many writers, there are people that come in and out of our lives that have great influence on the way in which we write and what we write about. One such man for James Baldwin as Richard Wright. Baldwin called Richard Wright the “greatest black writer in the world for me” and they quickly became good friends. It was during this period that Baldwin wrote a collection of essays entitles “Notes of a Native Son” in reference to Wright’s novel “Native Son.” Their friendship would be short lived, as Baldwin made the assertion that Wright’s “Native Son” novel did not have “credible characters and psychological complexity.” Although Baldwin still greatly admired Wright, and tried to explain his statements, they were never friends again.

Another prominent influent in the life of James Baldwin was an African American painter by the name of Beauford Delaney. Baldwin described Delaney as “the first living proof, for me, that a black man could be an artist.” As this was not a time where any black man would have been considered a white man’s teacher (which is how Baldwin saw him), Delaney became a courageous example of integrity, humility, and passion. He said about Delaney, “An absolute integrity: I saw him shaken many times and lived to see him broken but I never saw him bow.”

His next most prominent influence was a singer, painter, and civil rights activist named Nina Simone. Baldwin, along with Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry was responsible for making her aware of the racial inequalities that existed between blacks and whites. He also left her with literary references to help increase her knowledge on this point.

Later Life

In 1948 James Baldwin left his home town and moved to Europe; his first destination being Paris. During his time in Europe he wrote an essay called “Stranger in the Village.” This essay portrayed many of his feelings of helplessness and strangeness in a new country. When he finally returned to the United States he became actively involved with the Civil Rights Movement. He was among the people who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. to Washington D.C. He was on the faculty of Five Colleges in Massachusetts where he mentored and trained successful playwrights such as Suzan-Lori Parks and Mount Holyoke. He spent his later years in St. Paul de Vence on the Riviera, France and died from stomach cancer on November 30 1987.

SUMMARY: Cesar Chavez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) American farm worker, labor leader
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Hailed as one of the greatest American civil rights leaders is Cesar Estrada Chavez. He was a Mexican American farmer born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona and passed away in 1993. He fought for the rights of the migrant farm workers; these are workers that move from place to place in order to find work. He is best known for his efforts to gain better working conditions for the thousands of workers who worked on farms for low wages and sometimes in bad conditions. He is considered a hero among farm laborers and his birthday has become a holiday in four states.

Cesar Chavez began his career at the age of ten when his family became migrant workers. His father had lost their land during the great depression. Cesar’s family and thousands of others traveled throughout the southwest working in fields and vineyards. He quit school at the end of the eighth grade in order to help his family financially. He was married to Helen Fabela in 1948 after serving three years in the U.S. Navy.

In 1952 at the age of twenty five Cesar began working for the Community Service Organization or the CSO. This was a Latino civil rights group. He traveled throughout California making speeches for the support of workers rights, fighting against racial and economic discrimination against the Chicano residents. He also began more CSO chapters across California and Arizona. In 1958 he became the USO’s national director.

Cesar’s dream was to create an organization to help farm workers whose suffering he had also experienced. He was unable to convince the CSO to commit to working farmers organization. Then in 1962 he resigned his job with the CSO and moved to Delano, California with his wife and eight young children. He then co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Dolores Huerta, this was changed to the United Farm Workers (UFW) in 1966.

Cesar Chavez, like many other civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi, believed in non-violent actions. He used these tactics in1965 when his NFWA group joined with the AFL-CIO to strike against the major Delano area grape growers. During this strike Cesar fasted for 25 days to help bring attention to the plight of the workers. This was a successful 5 year strike-boycott that led to the first major labor victory for U.S. farm workers.

This event led to more like them in the U.S. throughout the years including Texas and Wisconsin. In the early 1980’s farmers who worked under contracts with the UFW as it was now called enjoyed higher pay, family health coverage, pension benefits and other contract protections. In 1984 he led a boycott against the use of toxic pesticides on grapes. This is where he fasted for 36 days in protest for the workers and their children that were working with this pesticide.

Cesar Chavez was also opposed to immigration and fought against it during his years in the UFW. He believed that the Bracero Program that existed from 1942-1964 undermined the U.S. workers and exploited the migrant workers. This program was between the U.S. and Mexico allowing for guest workers to help American farmers. These guest workers were paid less and were also allowed to work in place of the striking workers. This law was overturned thanks to Cesar Chavez.

The legacy of Cesar Chavez is extensive. Many farmer laborers see him as a hero. His work helped them to have higher pay and to improve their work safety. His birthday is a state holiday in California, and Texas. It is an optional holiday in Texas and Colorado. He has many parks, streets and some libraries named after him. He even has his own postage stamp. His son and grandson tour the country talking of his legacy. Without Cesar Chavez the migrant workers and America would have missed out.