Cesario Estrada Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. He abhorred poverty, regarding it as dehumanizing, and wanted to ensure a better standard of living for the poor. He was frustrated that most farmworkers appeared more interested in money and did not appreciate the values that he espoused.
In September 1965, Filipino American farm workers initiated the Delano grape strike to protest for higher wages. Chavez and his largely Mexican American supporters voted to support them.