The United Farm Workers (UFW) was founded by an immigrant Cesar Chavez. Chavez was bron in 1927, grew up during the Great Depression and knew poeverty well as he and his parents were cheated out of their house and forced to move to California, where he remained the rest of his life.

Chavez was first exposed to administration with the Community Service Orginization (CSO) and within a year was a full time organizer for the CSO. In six years he was appointed general director and under his leadership the CSO grew into the most influential Mexican-American political organization in California. Chavez soon came to realize that there were numerous work issues that needed to be looked at. When the CSO rejected his ideas in 1962, he left and he created teh National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). After three years, he lead a small strike against the grape farms and wineries. This movement soon snowballed into a very large movement that dedicated itself to peaceful economic boycotts named LA Causa. To make sure the public was watching, Chavez and the strikers marched 300 miles from Delano to Sacramento and then fasted for three weeks. In 1966, the NFWA merged with an AFL-CIO affiliate to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC).

After five years of struggle the economic impact of the boycott forced the growers to settle and the UFWOC obtained contracts from 26 growers, nearly two-thirds of the market in California.