READTHEORY.ORG Name Date Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez was a political leader who fought against human injustice. He believed that farmers and other migrant workers deserve equal rights. In the middle of the 20 th century many farm bosses out west did not believe that immigrant workers, who were from other countries and moved around to find work, required the same rights as American born, full-time employees. Chavez believed that all workers deserve fair hours and pay, health care, and access to education. This made him lead the fight for migrant worker rights and change the way many people view immigrants. The major events of his life are as follows: 1927 Chavez is born near Yuma, Arizona. 1938 Chavez has his first experience with injustice, when his family is swindled out of land by greedy farmers. The family moves to California to work on avocado farms. 1942 After experiencing Latino/white segregation and racism in school, Chavez graduates from 8 th grade. He does not attend high school. Instead, he becomes a full-time, migrant farm worker. He travels from state to state looking for farming work. 1946 Chavez serves two years in the military. His family and many of his friends remain in the migrant worker business. 1949 Chavez becomes involved with the Community Service Organization. He focuses on voter registration for migrant workers and grows passionate about migrant worker education.
1962 The United Farm Workers Association is born. Chavez is a strong leader who encourages nonviolent protest techniques and fights for the rights of migrant workers in the United States. 1966 Chavez organizes strikes and marches in the Southwest. Other small political groups become inspired to form unions and organizations. 1970 Many farmers in Arizona and California agree to pay for health care for migrant workers as well as institute shorter work days. 1988 Chavez completes a fast for 36 days. With nothing to eat or drink except water, he makes the peaceful statement that he will not eat until there is justice. 1993 Chavez dies near Yuma, Arizona. 1) As used in paragraph 1, the word injustice most nearly means A. unfairness B. hardships C. evil D. thievery 2) According to the passage, farm bosses did not believe that immigrants deserved the same rights as American born workers because they A. did not work as hard as most of the full time farm workers in the West B. had many cultural and social values that differed from American workers C. were unable to vote or be protected by the U.S. constitution D. were from other countries and moved around to find work 3) Using the passage as a guide, we can understand that Chavez was how old when he had his first experience with injustice? A. ten years old
B. eleven years old C. twelve years old D. thirteen years old 4) Which of the following statements from the passage describes an event that likely led Chavez to fight for justice for farm workers? A. "Chavez is born near Yuma, Arizona." B. "Chavez has his first experience with injustice, when his family is swindled out of land by greedy farmers." C. "Chavez serves two years in the military." D. "Chavez is a strong leader who encourages nonviolent protest techniques and fights for the rights of migrant workers in the United States." 5) This passage is best described as a A. memoir B. short story C. timeline D. diary 6) Based on information in the passage, which of the following most likely occurred between 1966 and 1970? A. The strikes, marches, and unions organized for Chavez s cause were effective. B. The United Farm Workers group is temporarily shut down while other groups take over. C. Chavez realizes that he needs to change his approach and recruits new members. D. Several migrant workers are injured in a farm fire and do not receive healthcare. 7) Can you think of any leaders similar to Cesar Chavez? Compare and contrast Cesar Chavez with another famous leader.
Answers and Explanations 1) A Core Standard: Craft and Structure injustice ( noun): lack of fairness or justice. In paragraph 1, the author writes, Cesar Chavez was a political leader who fought against human injustice. We can use context clues hints from known words or phrases around the unknown word or phrase to help us figure out what injustice most nearly means. If we keep reading, we find out, He believed that farmers and other migrant workers deserve equal rights. This lets us know that previously, farmers and other migrant workers were not being treated equally. Using this information, we can tell that injustice must mean being treated unequally, or unfairly. Therefore, injustice most nearly means unfairness, and (A) is correct. Using the above information, we can tell that we are looking for the definition that most nearly means being treated unequally, or unfairly. Hardships are the actual difficulties that people sometimes endure. These things do not always occur because of being treated unequally, or unfairly, however. For instance, if someone experiences a death in the family, this might be a hardship, but it is not necessarily anyone s fault. From this, we can tell that injustice does not most nearly mean hardships. Therefore (B) is incorrect. Using the above information, we can tell that we are looking for the definition that most nearly means being treated unequally, or unfairly. Evil means very immoral or wicked, and it describes a person, not how someone is treated. This lets us know that injustice does not most nearly mean evil, so (C) is incorrect. Using the above information, we can tell that we are looking for the definition that most nearly means being treated unequally, or unfairly. Thievery is the act of stealing something from someone else. Because this is just one specific form of injustice, we could not say that injustice which has a much more general definition most nearly means thievery. This means (D) is incorrect. 2) D Core Standard: Key Ideas and Details In paragraph 1, the author writes, In the middle of the 20 th century many farm bosses out west did not believe that immigrant workers, who were from other countries and moved around to find work, required the same rights as American born, full-time employees. Using this information, we can tell that farm bosses did not believe that immigrants deserved the same rights as American born workers because they were from other countries and moved around to find work. This means that (D) is correct. The passage does not provide information to support choices (A), (B), or (C). Therefore they are incorrect.
3) B Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge The author writes that in 1927, Chavez was born. Next, the author writes that in 1938, Chavez has his first experience with injustice. Since 38 minus 27 is 11, we can tell that Chavez was eleven years old when he had his first experience with injustice. Therefore (B) is correct. Using the above information, we can tell that we have to find the difference between 1927 (when Chavez was born) and 1938 (when Chavez [had] his first experience with injustice ) in order to determine how old Chavez was when he had his first experience with injustice. The difference between these days is not 10 years, so we can tell that Chavez was not ten years old when he had this experience. This means (A) is incorrect. Using the above information, we can tell that we have to find the difference between 1927 (when Chavez was born) and 1938 (when Chavez [had] his first experience with injustice ) in order to determine how old Chavez was when he had his first experience with injustice. The difference between these days is not 12 years, so we can tell that Chavez was not twelve years old when he had this experience. Therefore (C) is incorrect. Using the above information, we can tell that we have to find the difference between 1927 (when Chavez was born) and 1938 (when Chavez [had] his first experience with injustice ) in order to determine how old Chavez was when he had his first experience with injustice. The difference between these days is not 13 years, so we can tell that Chavez was not thirteen years old when he had this experience. This means (D) is incorrect. 4) B Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge In 1938, the author writes, Chavez has his first experience with injustice, when his family is swindled out of land by greedy farmers. The family moves to California to work on avocado farms. Since Chavez personally experienced injustice when his family was swindled out of land, and he was forced to move, we can conclude that this event impacted the eleven-year-old Chavez. From this, it is reasonable for us to conclude that experiencing the effects of injustice on his family would have led Chavez to fight for justice for farm workers. This means that the statement Chavez has his first experience with injustice, when his family is swindled out of land by greedy farmers. describes an event that likely led Chavez to fight for justice. Therefore (B) is correct. The place where Chavez was born would not likely lead him to fight for justice for farm workers, as Yuma, Arizona is not described as particularly important to the fight for justice for farm workers. What is more, Chavez would have been too young to realize what was going on, immediately after he was born. This lets us know that the sentence Chavez is born near Yuma, Arizona. does not describe an event that likely led Chavez to fight for justice for farm workers. This means (A) is incorrect. Chavez serving two years in the military would not have likely led him to fight for justice for farm workers. Although the military is trained to fight, this is not necessary something that causes someone to fight for justice for farm workers. Moreover, during his time in the military, Chavez was
probably not around farm workers being treated poorly since he himself was not working on a farm. We could conclude that, by comparison, the soldiers Chavez found himself amongst were being treated more as equals. Using this information, we cannot conclude that the sentence Chavez serves two years in the military describes an event that likely led Chavez to fight for justice for farm workers. Therefore (C) is incorrect. The sentence Chavez is a strong leader who encourages nonviolent protest techniques and fights for the rights of migrant workers in the United States." describes Chavez after he had already been fighting for justice for farm workers. Using this information, we can tell that this is not something that led Chavez to fight for justice for farm workers. This means (D) is incorrect. 5) C Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge In this passage, the author lists many dates, followed by important events that occur in these years. Timelines focus on important events that happen on specific dates. From all of the dates listed, we can tell that that this passage is best described as a timeline. Therefore (C) is correct. A memoir is a story that someone writes about his or her own life. We can tell that someone else besides Chavez wrote this passage, however, because the first person pronoun I is never used. Instead, Chavez is referred to in the third person, so we can tell that this passage is not best described as a memoir. This means (A) is incorrect. A short story is usually fiction, or made up. This passage relays facts about important years in the life of Chavez, so we can tell that it is not most likely a short story, and (B) is incorrect. A diary entry usually contains very personal information that someone writes about his or her own life. Typically, a diary entry would contain the first person pronoun I, but this is never used in the passage. Also, the events described in this passage are well known and not personal enough to be found in a diary entry. This lets us know that (D) is incorrect. 6) A Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge The author writes, that in 1966, Chavez organizes strikes and marches in the Southwest. Other small political groups become inspired to form unions and organizations. Next, in 1970, the author writes, Many farmers in Arizona and California agree to pay for health care for migrant workers as well as institute shorter work days. Since farmers agree to pay for health care for migrant workers and have shorter work days, we can tell that migrant workers are getting more rights. Using this information, we can conclude that the strikes, marches, and unions organized for Chavez s cause were effective, since farmers agreed to extend more rights to migrant workers. This means (A) is correct. The passage does not provide information to support choices (B), (C), or (D). Therefore they are incorrect.