Latino Heroes
César E. Chávez
Cesar Estrada Chavez, Senator Robert F. Kennedy noted, was "one of the heroic figures of our time.."
A true American hero, Cesar was a civil rights, Latino, farm worker, and labor leader; a religious and spiritual figure; a community servant and social entrepreneur; a crusader for nonviolent social change; and an environmentalist and consumer advocate.
A second-generation American, Cesar was born on March 31, 1927, near his family's farm in Yuma, Arizona. At age 10, his family became migrant farm workers after losing their farm in the Great Depression. Throughout his youth and into his adulthood, Cesar migrated across the southwest laboring in the fields and vineyards, where he was exposed to the hardships and injustices of farm worker life.
After achieving only an eighth-grade education, Cesar left school to work in the fields full-time to support his family. He attended more than 30 elementary and middle schools. Although his formal education ended then, he possessed an insatiable intellectual curiosity, and was self-taught in many fields and well read throughout his life.
Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz
Born April 5, 1950, in San José, Costa Rica, to the late Mr. Ramón A. Chang-Morales and Mrs. María Eugenia Dìaz De Chang. Married to the former Peggy Marguerite Doncaster of Alexandria, Louisiana. Four children. He enjoys music, glider planes, soccer, scuba-diving, and hiking. His mother, brothers and sisters still reside in Costa Rica.
Recipient of the University of Connecticut's Outstanding Alumni Award (1980); 7 NASA Space Flight Medals (1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998); 2 NASA Distinguished Service Medals (1995, 1997), and 3 NASA Exceptional Service Medals (1988, 1990, 1993). In 1986, he received the Liberty Medal from President Ronald Reagan at the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration in New York City, and in 1987 the Medal of Excellence from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He received the Cross of the Venezuelan Air Force from President Jaime Lusinchi during the 68th Anniversary of the Venezuelan Air Force in Caracas, Venezuela (1988), and the Flight Achievement Award from the American Astronautical Society (1989).
Emilio Estefan
Music producer and songwriter. Born on March 4, 1953, in Havana, Cuba. Estefan moved to the United States as a teenager. His first instrument was the accordion, and he started his musical career playing in restaurants and for weddings and other events. While working for Barcardi, the rum company, he formed a band called the Miami Latin Boys that played Cuban dance music. During one event, he met Gloria Fajardo and later recruited to her to join the band, which was renamed the Miami Sound Machine. The two became romantically involved and married in 1978.
The Miami Sound Machine found great success in the 1980s. After scoring hit records in other parts of the world, the band hit it big in the United States with the album, Primitive Love (1986) with two songs making it to the top 10 in the pop charts. And more hit songs—"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" among them—followed on the next album, Let It Loose. American fans enjoyed the band's energetic dance music and its gentle ballads.