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WARREN -- Cesar Chavez -- portrayed by historical scholar Fred Blanco -- walked onto the Ohio Chautauqua stage Friday evening and recalled a memory of when he and his brother would smell the fruit they were picking, which caused all of their troubles to melt away.
Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association.
Blanco said the first time Chavez took a stand was when he was in a movie theater with his wife, Helen Fabela Chavez, and they sat on the "wrong" side of the theater. The couple was arrested for sitting on the whites-only side.
"You see, the farming communities in northern California were not unlike some of the sections of the Deep South," said Blanco as Chavez. "Segregation was not a law, but it was an unwritten rule. So we all knew better.
"So that day in the movie theater when the usher came up to us, that day I decided I was going to take a stand and we didn't move," said Blanco in character as Chavez. "So they called the police on us and we were arrested, and they couldn't charge us with anything because we didn't do anything illegal. They just tried to scare us as the police sometimes do."
Chavez learned that day that people could take a stand and accomplish a lot without doing anything at all, Blanco said.
Ohio Chautauqua is a program of the Ohio Humanities, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The free community event is hosted by the Tribune Chronicle and the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, with support from the Trumbull 100, the Charitable Remainder Trust of Raymond L. and Janice M. Bland, the Trumbull County Tourism Bureau and in partnership with The Warren Heritage Center.
Each themed series visits eight Ohio communities over the course of two summers. This year's theme is "Modern Legends." Historical figures portrayed earlier this week were author Erma Bombeck, pilot Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and French chef and author Julia Child. The final peformance tonight will be Jeremy Meier as Robert F. Kennedy.
Blanco as Chavez recalled times in school when his teacher would hit him with a ruler for not speaking English. He also recalled how growers switched to a short hoe for weeding because they thought it would work better.
Kim Armstrong of Howland said she enjoyed the show.
"I had read a little bit this year," Armstrong said. "Smithsonian and National Geographic covered some things about Cesar Chavez, but it's nice to get a little more personal view from him."
Armstrong said the Chautauqua event is wonderful.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for people to learn new things," she said.
cramey@tribtoday.com