Chavez, who was a farm labourer himself, grew up in a migrant farm-labour (migrant labour) family of Mexican American descent. He lived in a succession of migrant camps and attended school sporadically. After two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Chavez returned to migrant farmwork in Arizona and California. His initial training as an organizer was provided by the Community Services Organization (CSO) in California, a creation of Saul Alinsky (Alinsky, Saul)'s Industrial Areas Foundation. In 1958 Chavez became general director of the CSO, but he resigned four years later to found the NFWA. In September 1965 he began leading what became a five-year strike by California grape pickers and a nationwide boycott of California grapes that attracted liberal support from throughout the country. Subsequent battles with lettuce growers, table-grape growers, and other agribusinesses generally ended with the signing of bargaining agreements. In 1966 the NFWA merged with an American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) group to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. In 1971 this organization became the United Farm Workers of America (UFW).

In recognition of his nonviolent activism and support of working people, Chavez was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1994. His wife, Helen, accepted the award.