The library is hosting an exhibit this month chronicling the life of Cesar Chavez.
Biographer John Hammerback gave a lecture at Cal State Long Beach yesterday about the civil rights activist, whom he considers the Mexican Martin Luther King Jr.
Chavez organized the National Farm Workers Association in the early 1960s to fight for farmers’ rights, becoming a celebrated Mexican speaker for this social moral movement.
Influenced by St. Francis and Gandhi’s nonviolence policy, as well as Chavez’s Catholic background, Chavez organized marches to make the state government pass laws to permit farm worker unions.
“Chavez wanted to change the farm workers’ conditions and make them aware of their human rights,” Hammerback said.
The exhibition shows several stations of Chavez’s political career through photographs and quotes. It is a traveling exhibition organized by the National Endowment for the Humanities and was previously on display at campuses in Texas and Arizona.
Hammerback, who wrote the books “The Words of Cesar Chavez” and “The Rhetorical Carrier of Cesar Chavez,” considers him a person students can look up to.
“Chavez also spoke to students to encourage them to become followers of his social oral ideas,” Hammerback said.
Craig Smith, director of the Center for First Amendment Studies, is glad to host the exhibition.
“We are interested in freedom of expression and Cesar Chavez is a great example for someone who uses freedom of expression for social good,” he said. “The library is a perfect place to display the exhibition because everybody can come to the library, and many students will see the pictures.”
Thomas McCloskey, a communication studies graduate student, also expressed his appreciation for Chavez.
“Cesar Chavez was an amazing leader in an important movement,” he said. “The exhibition is well-displayed in the library, so many students will see it.”
The exhibit will run until Nov. 7 on the fifth floor of the University Library.