But Chavez, who organized farm workers and fought for Latino civil rights, has often eclipsed the movement he galvanized. “We tend to focus on individuals as stand-ins for social trends or social movements,” said Manuel Pastor, a professor of sociology, American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. In California, Chavez became the face of the farm worker and Chicano movement as much as Martin Luther King Jr came to embody the civil rights movement. By the mid-1970s, Chavez’s influence on the farm worker movement had diminished significantly, Pawel said. “As we study the history of social movements, we have to recognize it’s a collective effort,” Terriquez said.

Source: The Guardian March 31, 2026 17:45 UTC