CSUB honors Chavez, Carson with top award

Towering social justice leaders ‘championed dignity and worth of all people’

By California State University, Bakersfield

April 4^th, 2023

California State University, Bakersfield will confer honorary doctorate degrees on Cesar E. Chavez and Irma Carson, transcendent social justice leaders who devoted their lives to fighting inequality while expanding opportunity for the people of Kern County and the world.

The Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters will be awarded to Mrs. Carson and the family of the late Mr. Chavez at the university’s 2023 spring commencement ceremonies.

“Cesar Chavez and Irma Carson championed the dignity and worth of all people, and they did so in the face of incredible discrimination and personal risk,” said CSUB President Lynnette Zelezny. “Their revolutionary leadership dismantled the barriers that prevented generations of people from pursuing their dreams, and their inspiring examples continue to influence the ongoing quest for a more just and equitable world.”

Carson, 87, said she was surprised and humbled by what she called the top honor of her life.

“I feel grateful that I was even considered,” she said. “I graduated from a segregated high school, and it’s a blessing to think I could receive an honor like this. To the people I’ve influenced, I say to follow your dreams, be involved in the community, be an activist and help people when you can.”

Andres Chavez, grandson of the late co-founder of the United Farm Workers, said that his grandfather’s legacy remains strong 30 years after the leader’s death on April 23, 1993.

“The recognition is an honor for our family and all of us in the farmworker movement,” said Chavez, executive director of the National Chavez Center in Keene. “But when my grandfather received recognition like this, he was oftentimes a little uncomfortable because he knew there were many who worked alongside him whose names are lost to history. We accept this on behalf of all those folks and share this honor with them.”

Cesar Chavez: ‘The end of all education should surely be service to others’

Born to a Mexican-American family in Yuma, Ariz., on March 31, 1927, Chavez began working in the fields as a child and did not have the opportunity for a formal education beyond junior high school.

“It’s interesting,” Andres Chavez reflected. “My grandpa only went through the eighth grade but despite that, he was a lifelong learner. Equally important to education for him was this idea of service. He often said, ‘The end of all education should surely be service to others.’”

Chavez served in the United States Navy for two years before moving to California, where he married Helen Fabela, became a grass-roots organizer and launched his fight for justice in the fields of the Central Valley. Chavez joined forces with fellow labor leaders Dolores Huerta and Larry Itilong,and after the merger of two workers’ rights organizations, the United Farm Workers union was born.

The 1960s and 1970s proved to be a watershed era for the UFW and the fight for equality among the nation’s Mexican-Americans and other immigrants. In 1966, thousands of workers walked off their jobs during the grape workers’ strike, leading to the historic 335-mile march from Delano to Sacramento. The strike persisted, triggering a widespread consumer boycott of table grapes, which forced growers to the negotiation table, where they signed a series of collective bargaining agreements.

But Chavez’s leadership extended beyond labor relations into the advancement of equality and access for the poor and underrepresented. He advocated on behalf of voting rights, fair housing, immigration and education reform and greater opportunities for the marginalized.

“His work really transcends the fields,” said his grandson, Andres, a CSUB alumnus. “Certainly he made historic strides for farmworkers and their families, but people also drew strength from his example — that he was so determined and simply never gave up. What the movement showed is you can be a little boy or girl from Lamont or Delano and see what my grandfather did and say, ‘I can do that, too. When we look at ‘La Causa,’ there is no greater civil rights movement than what happened here in the fields of Kern County, and we should be proud of that.”

When Chavez died in April 1993 at age 66 near his birthplace in Yuma, Ariz., he was leading the union in a legal battle with a powerful grower. His funeral, held in Delano, attracted more than 40,000 people who came to pay their respects to his life and legacy. He is buried at the UFW’s La Paz site in Keene, where in 2012, President Barack Obama established the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument.

Irma Carson: ‘I think I’ve had a blessed life’

Born in Monroe, La., on June 24, 1935, Irma Carson is a seminal leader in the advancement of racial and gender justice in Bakersfield, a city that offered few opportunities to Black women when she arrived with her family in 1953 in search of opportunity.

Carson traces her social consciousness and desire to make a difference to her upbringing in the segregated city of St. Louis, Mo., and her first experience with racial prejudice at 8 years old, when she had a job washing the windows of a candy store.

"I had to wait outside,” she told a reporter in 2010. “The husband was racist and didn't like blacks. I remember that to this day."

In her adopted hometown of Bakersfield, Carson launched a career distinguished by many firsts, improving the lives of the people of this region and uplifting her community in a stunning number of public service roles: criminal justice, education, government and social service.

“Mrs. Carson’s life of devotion and service to the people of Bakersfield is unparalleled in our city’s contemporary history,” said Gonzalo Santos, professor emeritus of sociology at CSUB.

In 1959, Carson broke barriers as the first Black woman to be employed at City Hall. Nearly a decade later, she accepted an invitation by the Bakersfield police chief to become the department’s first Black policewoman, eventually moving up the ranks to homicide detective and sergeant, before retiring from the force in 1989.

At age 43, Carson earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from CSU Bakersfield in 1978. A year later, the mother of three launched her first campaign for elective office, running for a seat on the board of the Bakersfield City School District, where she served for 15 years.

Voters elected Mrs. Carson to the Bakersfield City Council in 1994, making her the first and — to this day — only Black woman to serve constituents in the state’s ninth largest city. For 16 years, she represented the city’s southeast neighborhoods in Ward 1, a sector that had long been overlooked and underrepresented. Her visionary, ambitious agenda for community revitalization gave voice to the unique challenges — racism, poverty, lack of opportunity — facing many of her constituents.

Perhaps Carson’s most enduring legacy is the example she has provided to the generations of women and Black residents who have followed her into public life, citing her courage, wisdom and determination as their north star.

“Inspiring is an understatement when talking about Irma Carson,” said Bakersfield community leader NaTesha Johnson. “I have admired Ms. Carson all my life as she is a pioneer and architect of change, not only for the African-American community, but the entire community. Ms. Carson paved the way for so many, and I am proud to say that I stand on her shoulders.”

Upon her retirement from the City Council in 2010, Carson told The Bakersfield Californian, “I think I've had a blessed life. I've had family, friends and the opportunity to serve. And as Dr. King said, service is the greatest reward there is."

About the CSU honorary doctorate

Each year, the Board of Trustees of the California State University welcomes up to two nominations for honorary doctorate degrees from its 23 campuses.

The California State University awarded its first honorary degree to then-President John F. Kennedy in June 1963, at San Diego State University. Since that time, CSU campuses have awarded honorary degrees to 738 distinguished individuals.

CSUB has awarded 17 honorary doctorate degrees. Past winners are Jane Elliot, Jon Van Boening, Benjamin Batey, Ruth Gayle Batey, Harvey L. Hall, Stephen W. Schilling, John Farrer, Merle Haggard, Tyree Toliver, Bill Thomas, Robert W. Karpe, Milton M. Younger, Mildred Jean Ablin, James L. Burke, Rayburn S. Dezember, George F. Martin and Walter W. Stiern.