César E. Chávez National Monument, also known as Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz, is a U.S. National Monument in Keene, Kern County, California, located about 32 miles away from

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. The property was the headquarters of the United Farm Workers (UFW), and home to César Chávez from the early 1970s until his death in 1993. Chávez's gravesite is located in the property's gardens along with that of his wife,

Helen Fabela Chávez Helen Fabela Chávez (January 21, 1928 – June 6, 2016) was an American labor activist for the United Farm Workers of America (UFWA). Aside from her affiliation with the UFW, she was a second-generation Chicana with a traditional upbringing a ...

. Originally developed as a headquarters and worker housing area for a quarry, it served as a tuberculosis sanitarium (known as Stony Brook Sanitorium) in the early 1900s, until its acquisition by the UFW in the early 1970s.

History

Cesar E. Chavez National Monument was established by President Barack Obama on October 8, 2012 by proclamation under authority of the Antiquities Act. The monument is located among the Tehachapi Mountains in Keene, California, about southeast of

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. The property is known as Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz (La Paz), which was designated as a National Historic Landmark along with the monument on October 8, 2012. The monument is the 398th unit in the National Park System and is managed collaboratively by the National Park Service and the National Chavez Center. The Center and members of the Chávez family donated properties of La Paz to the federal government to establish the national monument. Initial funding was provided by the National Park Foundation and the America Latino Heritage Fund. Some of the monument's services and programs are still in development, but a visitor center and memorial garden where Chavez is buried are open to the public. Certain areas of the monument are closed to the public due to the Chávez family still living in La Paz, and members of the UFW still working in the UFW offices located on the property.

Proposed inclusion in national park

In October 2013, the site was identified as one of several to be part of a proposed new National Historical Park to commemorate the life and work of Cesar Chávez and the

farm worker movement A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harv ...

. Other sites for the proposed new park—which requires Congressional approval—include the Filipino Community Hall in Delano, California (headquarters of the

Delano grape strike The Delano grape strike was a labor strike organized by the United Farm Workers, Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a predominantly Filipino and AFL-CIO-sponsored labor organization, against table grape growers in Delano, Califo ...

), The Forty Acres (the original UFW headquarters in Delano),

McDonnell Hall Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is a Roman Catholic church in San Jose, California, located in the Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxfo ...

in San Jose, and the Santa Rita Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

References

External links

NPS: Official Cesar E. Chavez National Monument websiteChavezfoundation.org: Cesar Chavez Foundation
{{authority control United Farm Workers National Park Service National Monuments in California Chavez, Cesar History museums in California Museums in Kern County, California Protected areas of Kern County, California History of labor relations in the United States National Monuments designated by Barack Obama National Register of Historic Places in Kern County, California Protected areas established in 2012 2012 establishments in California Cesar Chavez

History

Proposed inclusion in national park

See also

References

External links