Posted on September 16, 2011

Cesar Chavez’s Home Is Designated National Historic Site

Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2011

Cesar Chavez’s California retreat has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the designation of the site in the Tehachapi Mountains where the labor leader lived and led the farm workers movement the last 22 years of his life.

Salazar, who called Chavez “one of the heroes of the 20th century,” made the announcement at a gathering of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington on Wednesday night.

The 187-acre Nuestra Senora Reina de La Paz in Keene, southeast of Bakersfield, served as headquarters of the United Farm Workers and Chavez’s residence from 1971 to 1993. It is now home to the National Chavez Center. Chavez was buried there in 1993.

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As the leader of the United Farm Workers union, Chavez staged a massive grape boycott that raised awareness of the plight of predominantly Latino farmworkers. His efforts were credited with inspiring millions of other Latinos in their fight for more educational opportunities, better housing and more political power.