César Chávez Honored by US Post Office

April 27, 2004 (Hispanic PR Wire) - On the 10th anniversary of César Chávez's death, local Hispanic leaders gathered for a ceremony unveiling a postage stamp of the Arizona native and labor and civil rights leader.

The dinner and ceremony Wednesday, hosted by the Tucson Hispanic Coalition, drew about 120 people to celebrate the legacy of Chávez and his commitment to fighting for civil rights.

Tucson Postmaster Alvaro Alvarez said a person must be dead for 10 years before his or her image can be used on a stamp and that Chávez was honored at the first opportunity shows how significant his contributions were. The national selection committee receives about 50,000 nominations each year and about 50 suggestions make it to stamps.

Chávez joins Frida Kahlo and Roberto Clemente as prominent Hispanics honored with postage stamps.

"His work will continue because of how extensive it was and how many people it touched through the years," Alvarez said. "He had an expansive reach."

The 37-cent stamp was designed by California illustrator Robert Rodriguez from a 1976 portrait of Chávez, smiling with grape fields behind him.

Antonio Estrada, director of the University of Arizona's Mexican American Studies and Research Center, said before the unveiling that Chávez continues to be one of the primary civil rights leaders for Hispanics in the United States. The unveiling took place at the Postal History Foundation, 920 N. First Ave.

Chávez, who was born March 31, 1927, on a farm near Yuma and died in San Luis in 1993, founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962, which later became the United Farm Workers union. He was a labor and civil rights leader from the 1950s until his death.

A Chávez stamp will not only honor the leader, but also serve to educate people about his "uncommon and valuable legacy," Estrada said.

"We get so tired of seeing Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny and not seeing higher images like César Chávez," he said. "Young people don't know much about César Chávez and his legacy. César Chávez has done more than just be a labor-rights leader. He gets to the heart of what we need to do to improve our lives."

After the unveiling, two large pictures of the stamp were auctioned, raising $650 for Tucson Hispanic Coalition cultural heritage programs.