Cesar Chavez was 10 years old in 1937. That was the year his family began working as migrant laborers. Traveling up and down California, following the harvestable crops, Cesar
Chavez's youth was spent in hot, dusty fields. His days passed in backbreaking toil as he
stooped down to pick up sugar beets or lettuce, plant by plant, row by row. After long
hours in the fields picking whichever crop needed harvesting, Cesar, his family, and the
many other migrant laborers went to their miserable shelters. These shelters were tiny
shacks without electricity and without plumbing. Whole families slept crowded together in
one hot, tiny room, waiting to begin another day of work.