The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., is soon to release a video that profiles Cesar Chavez, the activist who led a strike and grape boycott among farm workers in the 1960s. It’s called “Viva La Causa: The Story of Cesar Chavez and the Great Movement for Social Justice.”
I often come across schools that are named after Cesar Chavez, and I have to wonder if those schools have educated their students about him. Numerous times I’ve interviewed students who attend a school named after some guy (usually a guy), but they can’t tell me anything about that person.
Here’s a sample of schools named after Cesar Chavez:
Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy, a network of small schools in Washington, D.C.
Cesar Chavez Elementary School, in San Francisco
Cesar Chavez Academy, Pueblo, Colo.
Cesar Chavez High School, Laveen, Ariz.
Cesar Chavez Elementary, Davis, Calif.
The video is part of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project and will be available free of charge to educators late this month. I haven’t watched it yet myself.