Supporting his family of eight children with unemployment checks, contributions from friends, and his wife’s work in the fields, Chavez travelled to towns across the San Joaquin Valley signing up members for his new Farm Workers Association. After five months, he called the founding convention for Sept. 30, 1962 (cover photo). When Filipino workers went out on strike three years later, Chavez’s fledgling union joined the grape strike, which would last five years. His lengthy fast gained Chavez national exposure, and by July 1969 he was on the cover of Time magazine.
