"~.

4---------""---------

THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA

OF

LATINOS AND LATINAS

IN THE

UNITED STATES

Suzanne Oboler and Deena J. Gonzalez

Editors in Chief

VOLUME 1

Acequias

Dual Nationality

OXFORD

UNIVERSITY PRESS

2005
314 CHAvEZ, DENISE
Zoveida Dosamantes, head waitress at EI Farol Restau­
rant in Agua Oscura. The novel garnered instant acclaim
and won several awards, most notably the American
Book Award in 1995. It was cited for its compelling nar­
rator, its rich and diverse narrative texture, and its frank
treatment of private and ohen untold stories dealing
with extramarital affairs, divorce, incest, parental abuse,
domestic violence, sexual desire, self-exploration, and
menstruation. Zoveida, the narrator, is precociously en­
dowed with an urgency and desire to tell the story and
proceeds with a remarkable intergenerational and matri­
lineal account of the Dosamantes family. A thematic ex­
ploration of the idea of service underscored through
Zoveida's ongoing effort to complete a project, The Book
of Service: A Handbook for Service, ties the story together.
Ultimately service, in particular the service of women, as
a concept and as a practice, is complicated and edified in
a nuanced critique and revision of the stereotypical and
ethnocentric view of the Latina as the mindless and im­
poverished woman and employee in the service industry.
A persistent search for and encounter with spiritual
meaning in life complements this revised notion of serv­
ice. Zoveida's spiritual journey, rooted in an explicitly
womanist devotion to the Virgen de Guadalupe, is open,
evolving, and ultimately a reflection of the synchronism
of faiths-Catholicism, Native American spirituality, and
New Mexico faith rituals-that characterizes the New
Mexican faith communities. The rich narrative texture of
Face of an Angel is characterized by what Douglas Ander­
son has identified as Chavez's "exuberant inclusiveness."
Indeed, Chavez's novel reflects the increasingly distinc­
tive practice among borderland writers of redrawing the
borders of discourse to blur the boundaries between oral
and written texts and 'between popular culture and
canonical culture. Face of an Angel reflects a keen inter­
est and humorous curiosity in the interplay-the gaps,
the duplications, and the intersections-of a wide array
of texts ranging from oral history and folkJore passed
down to her by the women in her family to soap operas,
tabloids. and movie magazines and to literary discourses
more conventionally understood.
With Loving Pedro Infante (2001) Chavez moved into
another area of popular culture, this time focusing on the
popular Mexican icon. singer, and idol Pedro Infante. In
this lighthearted but heartrending story, Tere and her
friend Irma turn to active membership in the Pedro In­
fante Club #256 in an attempt to transcend their disillu­
sionment and fnJstrations with the vicissitudes of love.
Chavez is a consummate writer and activist working
tirelessly on behalf of her craft and her community. In ad­
dition to writing. she is a founding member of the Na­
tional Institute of Chicana Writers and the founder and
artistic director of the Border Book Festival. Chavez, like
many other writers of her community and generation, en­
tered the twenty-first century with a renewed conviction
of the power of words to speak the truth about her com­
munity and to continue the legacy of her mother's family
by speaking out for things that matter: justice, peace, and
equality for all human beings.
See also Literature; New Mexico and Testimonios.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chavez, Denise. Face of a,q Angel. New York: Farrar, Straus, and
Giroux, 1994.
Delgadillo. Teresa. "Denise Chavez: Face or an A11gel." In Readi11g U.S.
LLuina Writers: Remapping America11 Lilerat"re. edited by Alvina E.
Quintana, 37-50. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003.
Heard, Martha E. "The Theatre of Denise Chavez: Interior Land­
scapes with Sabor NueVOl11eXlcallO." Americas Review j 6. no. 2
(Summer 1988): 83-91.
Keating, AnaLouise. "Towards a New Politics of Representation' Ab·
sence and Desire in Denise Chavez's The Las/ or/he Menu Girls." In
We v\fho Love 10 Be Astonished: Experimental Women' Writing and
Performance Poetics, edited by Laura Hinton and Cynthia Hogue,
71-80. Tuscaloosa: University of A.labama Press, 2002.
Mehaffy. Marilyn, and AnaLouise Keating. '''Carrying the Message':
Denise Chavez on the Politics of Chicana Becoming." Au/"" 26,
no. 1 (Spring 200 I): 127-155.
Quintana. Alvina E. "Orality, Tradition, and Culture: Denise Chavez's
Nove"a NaJTalives and The Last or the Menu Girls." In Home Girls:
Chicana Literary Voices, 93-1 J I. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, J 996.
TAMARA R. WlLLlAMS
CHAVEZ, HELEN (b. 1928), labor activist. Helen Fa­
bela Chavez is a labor activist and the widow of Cesar
Estrada Chavez, the Chicano labor leader who cofounded
the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). A first-gen­
eration Chicana with a traditional upbringing and limited
education, Helen has played an instrumental role in the
movement for farm workers' rights, yet describes her vo­
cation as caring for the family (Rose, p. 209). Helen did
the bulk of her union work in her home, ohen after work­
ing long days as a field laborer Perhaps because Helen
herself has emphasized her roles of wife and mother,
studies of the Chicano and Chicana labor movement,
with rare exceptions. have primarily focused on Cesar
and UFW cofounder Dolores Huerta. Information about
Helen tends to be inconsistent and expressed in relation
to her husband's life.
Early Life
Helen Fabela was born in Brawley, California, on January
21, 1928. Her father or her grandfather, depending on the
source, fought in the Mexican Revolution. This revolution­
ary history is generally invoked as the source of Helen's
commitment to social change. Her mother and father­
from Sombrete and San Jacinto, respectively-emigrated
•
CHAvEZ, HELEN 315

HELEN CHAvEZ. Helen Chavez

(in polka-dot blouse. third
from right) with her family,
2000. (Gary KazanjianJAP)

separately from Mexico and married in California. Both assisted with CSO business. Since Cesar often c~me h~~e
. h CSO dally actiVIty
wOI'ked as migrant laborers, first in the Imperial Valley and exhausted, Helen would handwnte t e
later in the San Joaquin Valley. The Fabela family eventu­ reports thaI he dictated. Historian Margaret Rose sugge~ts
.. ff f women like
ally senled south of Delano. that rhe uncompensated aUXIliary e orts 0 . fu1
ost success
Helen first met Cesar in 1942 while she was a student at Helen helped the csa become one 0 ternf h .'
· . . , C I'f I'a at thiS tIme.
Delano High School. Her father's death forced Helen to quit Mexican Amencan associatIOns In a I om ,
schooL She went from working after school in a grocery
Later Political and Organizing Activities
store to working full time in the fields so she could help her
widowed mother, two sisters, and four brothers. Helen and Along with fellow organizer Dolores Huerta, cesarkre­
Cesar married on October 22, 1948, in Reno, Nevada, and signed from the CSO in 1962 to start the f~rm War: er:s
. . . I farm Workers
retumed to Delano. They unsuccessfully tried sharecrop­ AsSOCIatIOn, later known as the Natlona
pmg strawberries in Greenfield and lived in Crescent City Association (NFWA). The family moved back to Delano
· b . ki t $1 25 an hour
while Cesar wOI'ked in a lumber miD. In 1952. they rented a were
h. H e Ien too k a JO piC ng grapes a . .
. J . )1 Duong one
house in a San Jose barrio called Sal Si l'uede.s ("Get out if wIllie Cesar traveled to build t lC new unlO .
. b d tielen into the
you can.") By ]959, they had eight children. meetmg, the NFWA board mem ers vote Jl I d
. h Helen earne
The couple soon became involved in labor organizing. post of accountant despite cr protests. .
. full' drrtinistrator ol
Their local Catholic priest gave CeS31-'s name to Fred Ross. qUIckly and soon became the -urnI' a
· . k . f ]tJesS financial
an organizer looking for local leaders to participate in the the NFWA cre d It Ulllon. eepmg au
Community Service Organization (CSO) and its agenda of recOl"ds [or more than twenty years. .. . .
constructive political action. Cesar distrusted Ross as an In 1965. the NFWA merged with the mostly Fillpmo Agn­
.. C 't (AWOC) to be­
unwanted Anglo olltsider and avoided him for days. cultl.1ra I War kers 0 rgamZlng omml tee .
· . 'jlg Committee
Helen, however. felt Ross might have "something positive" come the Ul1lted Farm Workers OrgaDlZI

to offer and revealed where her husband was hiding. (UFWOC) , a truly multiethnic union under the AFL .CI?al'

. . f bo C . 5S of In d ustn
Ross's comrnitment to help the disenfranchised won over the Amencan FederatIOn 0 La 1'- ongre •
. . . h d £forts lA Causa
Cesar. who became a full-time CSO organizer' and then na­ OrgamzatIOns. They dubbed theIr sarI' e
. b a1 .. tIle UFWOC ad­
tional director in 1958. (the Cause. ) DespIte rut OpPOSitIOn, .
· .. . nfair labor pra c ­
Helen also became politicized through CSO activities. hered to nonVIOlent pnnclples. protesting II
. . k f t and marches.
During voter registl-ation drives, she taught literacy classes tices through slnkes, boycotts. pIC ets, as s, ..
for migrant workers seeking to pass the U.S. citizenship test Helen joined the pickel lines to demand unionll;e(;,~g~~ti~~
and vote. While Cesar was ol-ganizing, Helen cared for the and was aITested in 1966 [or: shouting "Huelg a . tn e.
childrl'n. worked ten hours a day to supp0l1 the family, ::md at the W. B. Camp ranch.
316 CHAvEZ, HELEN
In 1971, the Chave~ family moved to Keene, California.
An abandoned preventorium, a treatment facility for chil­
dren liable to develop tuberculosis, became the new
UFWOC headquarters, dubbed La Paz (peace). Helen
moved to this location "with great reluctance" since she
had unpleasant childhood memories of being a lonely,
isolated patient there. In 1973, the UFWOC became the
United Farm Workers (UFW).
Helen has maintained that a woman's proper place is
in the home, but she never shied away [Tom work or
from organizing. While managing the credit union,
Helen worked in the onion fields and grape vineyards to
support her family. In 1974, she joined Cesar in spread­
ing word of the grape boycott to Europe. Helen was ar­
rested a total of four times for acts of civil disobedience.
In 1975, hostile growers had Helen and her daughter
Linda jailed for speaking with workers at Jack Pandol &
Sons grape ranch. They were released when the courts
upheld a state regulation allowing union organizers to
meet with workers in the fields during nonworking
hours. Helen's other highly publicized arrest occurred
in 1978 when she and Cesar tested the constitutionality
of an Arizona ban against picketing. Helen's example in­
spired other Mexicanas and Chicanas to support union
efforts.
Helen devoted her life to her family, wielded consider­
able influence over her husband, and contributed signifi­
cantly to the UFW. Cesar said that Helen's unwavering
support and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good
allowed him a sense of freedom and clarity in his ac­
tivism. The Chavez family continued to work toward so­
cial justice. Seven of the children have joined the struggle
for migrants' rights. In 1993, Cesar died in his sleep. The
next year, Helen accepted the Presidential Medal of Free­
dom in Cesar's honor
See also Chavez, Cesar; Huerta, Dolores; Latina Labor
and Community Organizers; Migrant Workers; and
United Farm Workers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
California Dept of Education. Cesa,' E. Chavez Research Sileo
chavez.cde.ca.govlresearchcenterl
Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. http://www.cesarechavezfoundation.orgJ.
Day, Dorothy. "On Pilgrimage-June 1971." The Catholic Worker, June
1971. (DOC #510). The Catholic Worker Movement. w ....rw.
catholicworker.orgJdorothyday/daytexl.cfm ?TextID:51 0 and wWW.
catholicworker.orgldorothydayldaytext.cfm?TextID:576
Dunne, John Gregory. "Helen ... cesar ... and the $100 Prize." Source:
"Delano" by Noonday Press, 1967. Viva Cesar E. CMv.;:! Cesar E.
Chavez Institute, San Francisco Slate University. www.sfsu.eduJ
-cecipplcesar_chavezlhelencesarlOO.htm
Garcia, Lucio (Tony). "A Man is Born: The Beginning." Cesar Chavez:
Viva l.o. Causa! projects.edtech.sandLnetibrooklynfchavezlLinksl
Lhebeginning.htm
Griswold del Castillo, Richard, and Richard A. Garcia. Cesar Chavez:
A 1hurnph of Spirit. Norman: University of Oklahoma Pre,s, 1995.
Levy, Jacques E. Cesar Chavez: AlI/oblOgmph.1' of La Causa New York:
Norton, 1975.
"Linda Chavez Rodriguez. daughter of Cesar Chavez. obituary"
Las Culillras.com. www.lascuJturas.comlliblnewsUFWLlndaChavez.
php
"A Page from the Life of Ce.sar Chavez." Originally appeared in £1
Malcriado, April 15, J 970. Viva Cesar E. Chavez.' Cesar E. Cbavez
Institute, San Francisco State University. www.sfsu.edu/-cecipp/
cesar_chavez/life.htm
Rose, Margaret. "Traditional and Nontraditional Patterns of Female
Activism in the United Farm Workers of America, 1962 to 1980."
In Chicana Leadership: The Fro11/;ers Reader. edited by Yolanda
Flores Niemann. Susan H. Armitage. Patricia Hart, et a1., 202-220.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
"The St0t), of Cesar Chavez: The Beginning." July 16. 2004 UFW: The
Official Web Page or the United Fan" Wo/·ke,.s or Amenca, AFL­
CIO. www.ufw.orgJcecstory.hlm
Young, Jan. "Small Man With a Big Dream" h'om "Cesar Chavez and
the Migrant Farmworkers," 1967. Viva Cesar E Chavez) Cesar E.
Chavez Institute, San Francisco State UniverSity....."W....I. sfsu.eduJ
-cecipp/cesar_chavez/smallman bigdream. hIm
TAMARA C. Ho
CHAVEZ, LINDA (b. 1947), poliLical advocate In her
2002 autobiography, Linda Chavez calls herself the "the
most hated Hispanic in America." Since the 1980s,
Chavez has challenged the Latino lobby on immigration,
affirmative action, and bilingual education. Though con­
troversial, she is an important voice on topics concerning
Latinos and Latinas in the United States.
Chavez was born on June 17, 1947, in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. Her mother, Velma McKenna, married Rudy
Chavez shortly after World War n. Chavez's upbringing was
humble, and she notes three principal factors that shaped
her childhood: her father's alcoholism, the death of her sis­
ter, and the Catholic faith. The family eventually moved to
Denver apd there she met her future husband, Christopher
Gersten, while attending the University of Colorado. The
couple married in June 1967, and Chavez graduated with a
degree in literature in 1970. Gersten, who considered him­
self both an atheist and socialist, inHuenced Chavez's poli­
tics, although she always expressed some trepidation.
Chavez became distressed over the result of the radical­
ism she witnessed while attending graduate school at
UCLA. She was most disheartened by what she considered
lax entry standards for minorities and also grew increas­
ingly concerned about the implementation of racial quotas.
In late 1971, the couple moved Lo Washington, D.C.,
where Chavez found a job writing grant proposals for II
Latino advocacy firm. It was while working at the Ameri­
can Federation of Teachers, however, that she refined her
neoconservative thought. As the editor of American Edu­
calor, Chavez challenged what she saw as the negative im­
pact of quotas and bilingual education. In the 19805, her
political transformation compleLe, she accepted a post in