Cesar E. Chavez had a vision. He dedicated his life to creating an organization to protect and serve farm workers whose poverty he once had shared.
To honor this heroic civil rights leader, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a 37-cent stamp in April as a tribute to the founder of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO.
In 1952, Chavez joined the Community Service Organization, a prominent Latino civil rights group. While with the CSO, he coordinated voter registration drives and conducted campaigns against racial discrimination primarily in urban areas. In the 1950s and early '60s Chavez served as CSO's national director.
The new stamp features a portrait of Chavez against a background of empty grape fields. It was painted by illustrator Robert Rodriguez from a 1976 photo of Chavez. Chavez is credited with organizing the first successful farm workers union in American history. The efforts of the union brought about the passage of the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act to protect farm workers. Today, it remains the only law in the nation that protects the rights of farm workers to unionize.
Chavez was a second generation American, born March 31, 1927, near his family's farm in Yuma, Ariz. He died April 23, 1993, in San Luis, Ariz.
The Stamp Fulfillment Services of the USPS offers first-day covers as well as postal stationery items with the official first-day-of-issue postmarks. Call toll free (800)-STAMP-24.
If you would like to get a free catalog, write to Information Fulfillment, Dept. 6720, U.S. Postal Service, P.O. Box 219014, Kansas City, MO 64121-9014.
Illustrator Robert Rodriguez, whose work appears on the new Cesar E. Chavez stamp, also has illustrated 13 other U.S. stamps including the 1998 Cinco de Mayo stamp issued jointly by the U.S. Postal Service and the Mexican Postal Service.
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) renowned as a leader of the women's suffrage movement, was given the honor not only of appearing on two U.S. stamps but also of being the first woman pictured on a U.S. coin in general circulation.
Sad to relate, the Susan B. Anthony dollars (minted between 1979 and 1981) were not a hit with U.S. citizens. Since the coin is only a little larger than a quarter, many people had trouble distinguishing between the two.