Site Where Cesar Chavez Founded Farmworker Union Dedicated As Historic

DELANO, Calif. (AP) -- U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and farmworker union leaders dedicated a National Historic Landmark plaque Monday to commemorate the land and buildings where the United Farm Workers of America was founded in the mid-1960s.

   Salazar joined the family of Cesar Chavez, the late founder of the farmworker union, current UFW leaders, farmworkers and area schoolchildren in Delano, a small city 30 miles north of Bakersfield, to honor the site known as "Forty Acres," which had hosted some of the most momentous events shaping Chavez's movement.

   "We can't forget the suffering of Cesar Chavez and his family and all the farmworkers who participated in the movement because you still have to keep going because the work of Cesar Chavez is not finished," Salazar said in Spanish after he unveiled the plaque.

   Designated as a National Historic Landmark in October 2008, the Forty Acres focused national attention on farmworker issues and inspired millions of Americans to social and political activism in the 1960's and 1970's.

   "It's a historic recognition of a location that farmworkers have used as their headquarters for more than 40 years," said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers. "Many historical events have taken place here and tens of thousands have gathered at this site."

   The Forty Acres is home to the union hall, where grape growers signed their first union contracts after five years of grape strikes and boycotts. It's also here that Chavez held two public fasts, one to rededicate the movement to nonviolence and the other to protest the use of pesticides.

   Over the years, various leaders have visited Chavez at Forty Acres, including Sen. Robert Kennedy who helped him break one of the fasts. The site was witness to numerous farmworker marches and meetings.

   The Forty Acres was also home to daily services that eased the life of farmworkers: a cooperative gas station, a credit union and the first affordable housing complex. And it continues to serve as the union's office for the Central Valley, providing organizing and other services to present-day farmworkers.

   "When my dad began the work, he understood the poverty farmworkers face," said Paul Chavez, Cesar's son and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation. "Forty Acres is a facility that speaks to the vision my father had, that the union would address not just work issues, but also the needs of the people in the community."

   (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)