La Paz, where labor great Cesar Chavez lived and worked during the last 25 years of his life and where he is buried, has been designated a national landmark.
Formerly known as Nuestra Senora Reina de La Paz, or Our Lady Queen of Peace, the facility is located in Keene, California. Set on 187 acres of oaks and spectacular rock outcroppings in California’s Tehachapi Mountains, the facility is dedicated to promoting the legacy of a man whose name is synonymous for the fight for civil rights and workers’ justice.
As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka noted, “The legacy of Cesar Chavez’s fight for justice, la lucha por la justicia, is still relevant today. The farm worker movement that Chavez is most often associated with was never deterred by their lack of money or clout. These workers knew that together they could form a mighty force for justice. Their collective action through the United Farm Workers brought national support to the moral cause and won historic victories and protections for agricultural workers.”
The MTD applauds this honor, and remembers with pride that it was the Department’s late president, Paul Hall, who coordinated many of the AFL-CIO’s grass roots efforts on these historic campaigns.