César E. Chávez, 1927-1993
Berkeley Celebrates “Si Se Puede!”
The Chavez Commemoration Planning Committee, with the support of the City of Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District and the University of California adopted a flexible “commemorative period” rather than a single day to honor César Chávez. In that way many activities can happen in the city without competing with one another. The focus of the commemorative period is on “service to the community” as the best way to honor the labor leader and environmentalist. Last year the committee adopted a environmental justice theme. This entire strategy has been advanced as an experimental alternative to a school or city holiday.
CITY OF BERKELEY | SCHOOL DISTRICT | COMMUNITY | UC BERKELEY
Key Dates in 2009 Commemorative Period:
- March 20th (Fri) - Beginning of the Commemorative Period (beginning of planting season in agriculture)
- March 23rd – 27th - UC Spring Recess
- March 30th or 31st - TENTATIVE (School District’s Chavez Day of Service & Learning)
- March 31st (Tues) - Birthday of Cesar Chavez
- April 6th – 10th - BUSD Spring Recess
- April 23rd (Thurs) - 16th Anniversary of Cesar’s death
City of Berkeley
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Mayor will issue a proclamation proclaiming the Cesar Chavez Commemorative Period March 20 – April 23rd.
March 31 to April 13, 2009
Honoring Cesar’s Legacy Through Service to the Community: Display Cases at the Library
Berkeley Public Library (Downtown)
The Chavez exhibit is scheduled for the 2 front vestibule cases. Exhibit consists of books, posters & some printed flyers. The Exhibit is an historical look at Chavez both locally and regionally.
April 7th - 12-1:15pm
Screening of “Viva La Causa”
Brown bag lunch
Camphor Room
Presented by Public Health (COB Staff)
April 7th – 1:15 pm
“Orations about “The life and accomplishments of Cesar Chavez, one of our heroic figures”
Presented by HHS Senior Citizens
North Berkeley Senior Center
Dates TBA
HHS – Mental Health Adult Services
TBA – 10-11:30 am
Drop In Café will sponsor a Cesar Chavez acknowledgement celebration
HHS – Adult Services
TBA
Display of Cesar Chavez Mural in Lobby, 2640 MLK, Jr. Way
City Manager’s Office
TBA
Displays & food to celebrate the Cesar Chavez Movement
City Hall- 2180 Milvia St., lst Floor
School District
PRE-SCHOOLS
Cesar Chavez bookmarks will be distributed to each child after the teacher reads the story, Gathering the Harvest, by Alma Flor Ada.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
March 20-April 5th
Malcolm X
Malcolm X School garden will honor Cesar Chavez with a school wide strawberry give-a-way. Discussions will take place in the garden classes about the rights of farmworkers. 1st grade teachers -pictorals; 2nd grade teachers-readings "Harvest Hope", and others; 3rd grade-part of their biography unit
March 25-March 30
Thousand Oaks
March 25 & 26
- 5th grade students work with K-2 classes on some service learning projects
- Teach-in, 8:30-9:30am & 9:30-10:30am Thousand Oaks students visit classrooms and educate others about unionization and the work of Cesar
March 30 - 8:30am-9:30am & 10:30-11:30 am School-wide Assembly
March 27
Oxford
Hoping to have Salvador Murillo come and do a presentation to the whole school followed by service projects by grade level around the school that day
March 31
Cragmont
- 9:00-12:00 Latino Role Models Visit Classrooms
- Lunch In for Role Models 12:00-1:30
- 1:30-2:45 Assembly with Performances by Students: Dancing, Singing & Skits
- Service Projects - Food Drive and Reinvigorating our Recycling Program , using the core values of Cesar Chavez
March 31
LeConte
12:45 Parade on Tuesday. During the week students in various grade levels will educate others about Cesar Chavez e.g., reading stories, singing songs, doing skits.
April 3
Emerson
Emerson will be honoring Cesar Chavez at an All School Meeting on at which time we will recognizing adults and students in our school who have provided service to our community. We also have a guest speaker.
Muir
Our school is celebrating Chavez through art (multiple grades) and through service (4th and 5th grades).
Rosa Parks
Time & date to be announced
3rd graders are studying the life of Cesar Chavez and preparing a performance/skit for the school.
Arts Magnet
We have a program (K, 2nd) with songs, play, labor movement info -but the teacher we cannot perform it until after spring break (April).
Jefferson
No events submitted
Washington
No events submitted
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Longfellow
All sixth grade classes will experience a 20+ minute student-led presentation about César Chávez's life, achievements and other topical issues affecting Latinos in the United States today. This will be prepared and led by the sixth grade Dual Immersion Class. The presentation will combine visuals, student skits and brief speeches. We will also teach a few Spanish phrases to the students such as "Sí se puede" and "El pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido," which were commonly employed during UFW marches and demonstrations. Our art teacher will focus a lesson on still-life painting with beautiful fruits and vegetables, as a way to appreciate the hard labor the farm workers do for us all. All Longfellow history classes will conduct a lesson on the life and accomplishments of César Chávez and Mexican-American rights which may include films such as Viva la Causa (a summary of the history of Spanish speakers in the United States) and/or "A Class Apart", (a documentary about the landmark civil rights case in which Texan Mexican-Americans argued [successfully] to the Supreme Court that Mexican-Americans warranted special protection under the 14th Amendment).
Martin Luther King, Jr.
No events submitted
Willard
No events submitted
HIGH SCHOOLS
Berkeley High
No events submitted
Berkeley Technology Academy
No events submitted
Independent Study
No events submitted
Community
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Ecology Center
Film: Immokalee USA - Cesar Chavez Commemoration Film Showing
"Immokalee USA" chronicles the daily experiences of six individuals who live and work in the migrant farming community of Immokalee, Florida. Every season, tens of thousands of migrant farmworkers converge on small communities like Immokalee, Florida where they plant and harvest the food that Americans consume. A vast majority of these workers are undocumented, leaving them at the mercy of the large agribusinesses who hire them, the crew leaders who contract them and the landlords and businesses that profit from the seasonal arrival of migrant workers. Their "undocumented" legal status allows for a system of exploitation that leaves workers and their families to endure conditions and wages that rarely meet international human rights standards. Immokalee U.S.A. documents these daily experiences, in the field and at home, from Panchito, the lonely romantic who plucks his guitar with weary hand, to the heart-breaking Mateo Diego, whose grasp on reality seems to fade with each succeeding interview. What is our collective role in this chain of servitude? the film seems to ask us, providing an opening for self-reflection rather than didactic sermonizing. (2008, 77 min) Information about current farmworker campaigns and information about organizations working on labor and equity campaigns will be on hand.
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight Way, Berkeley.
Free
Info: 510-548-2220 x233, erc@ecologycenter.org.
Please call (at least 10 working days in advance) if ASL interpretation is requested.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Cesar E. Chavez Holiday Parade & Festival (San Francisco)
Assemble: 11 a.m. at 19th Street between Dolores and Guerrero.
12:00 Parade begins - The parade is honored this year to have Jose Montoya, Chicano poet and artist as the Grand Marshal, along with the Chicano Royal Air Force.
The 24th Street Fair ( Harrison and Bryant ) will include tributes to Cesar, music, ethnic dance, and entertainment from 1-5 p.m. Circling the Street Fair will be community service, information, arts & crafts, and children’s activities booths. The Faur will feature a focus on youth with the Cesar E. Chavez Art contest winners; a special Cesar E. Chavez Educational Achievement Award ceremony recognizing Latino honor role students in San Francisco public schools; and a children’s arts & crafts area.
Entertainment: Featuring the Mission Cultural Center's Youth Band, Futuro Picante; Reggae band, Native Elements; Manzo -- members of the Chicano/Latin Rock band, Malo; and Salsa/Latin Jazz band, Louie Romero y su grupo Mazacote.
Classic Car Show (Harrison St. and 24th St.)
Media Contact: Juliana Mojica, Mojica Arts
415-374-0070 | juliana@mojicaarts.com
Saturday, April 4, 9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
EarthTeam’s Annual César Chávez Celebration and Service Day
In cooperation with Aquatic Park EGRET & the City of Berkeley’s Chavez Commemoration Committee
Participants are 120 pre-selected middle and high school students. Activities include:
- environmental work at Berkeley’s Aquatic Park to both protect native vegetation (e.g., weeding non-native plants and mulching) and excavate historic masonry terraces to preserve urban archeology
- Art Projects that portray their interpretations of the day’s events and the Four Virtues of César Chávez: Hope, Determination, Courage, and Tolerance
- Speaker: Federico Chávez will discuss his uncle César’s connection to community service and environmental restoration
- Entertainment: the Sustainable Living Roadshow will present their Conscious Carnival, which provides edutainment that incorporates interactive games, a puppet show presented by the Big Tadoo Puppet Crew, and education about bioregional solutions for sustainability.
- EarthTeam students will film the day’s events for the student-run show called The Green Screen, which will air on Bay Area TV stations and will be viewable by clicking “The Green Screen” at www.earthteam.net.
Contact: Kevin Sherrill, Restoration Program Director, (510) 704-4030 or visit www.earthteam.net
April 10, 2009 - May 22, 2009
VIVIR SIN FRONTERAS/LIVING WITHOUT BORDERS: A NEW MURAL FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Juana Alicia, her Berkeley City College Mural Design and Creation class and West Berkeley youth are beginning to paint the Youth at Hope mural, entitled "Living Without Borders/Vivir sin fronteras" in West Berkeley, at the Mi Tierra Foods Market. Sponsored by BAHIA, the City of Berkeley, the U.C. Chancellor’s Office, the Rosa Parks Collaborative, Mi Tierra Foods, Pueblo Nuevo Gallery and the San Francisco Foundation, the new mural celebrates diversity, sustainability and human rights. We will be working on the mural through May 30th and invite community artists to join us on the following dates:
- Friday April 10
- Friday May 1
- Friday May 8
- Friday May 15
- Friday May 22
Contact Email: malikha33@yahoo.com
UC Berkeley
April 13th to April 17th
Cesar E. Chavez Commemoration Door Decoration Contest (4th Annual)
Theme : Visions of Tomorrow: Empowering Our Communities.
Judging will take place on April 16 and 17th from 10-1pm.
Winners will be announced on April 17th at 6:30pm- Cesar E. Chavez Center Atrium.
Contact: jt_torr99@berkeley.edu Jesus Torres at (510) 642-1802
April 17, 2009
4th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Commemoration Celebration
6:00-8:00pm at the Cesar E, Chavez Student Center Atrium.
Danzantes, Speakers, Recognitions, Awards, Music and Food.
