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Baldemar Velásquez (born February 15, 1947)〔''Hispanic Americans Information Directory,'' 1991, p. 408.〕 is an American labor union activist. He co-founded and is president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO. He was named a MacArthur Fellow (the so-called "Genius Grant") in 1989, and awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle in 1994, the highest honor Mexico can bestow on a non-citizen.〔"Velásquez, Baldemar," in ''Making It in America,'' 2001, p. 393.〕 ==Early life and education== Velásquez was born in February 1947 in Pharr, Texas.〔Velásquez, 2003, p. 55.〕 He was the third of nine children born to Cresencio and Vicenta Castillo Velásquez.〔〔Barger and Mendoza Reza, 1993, p. 54.〕〔Hintz, 1982, p. viii.〕 Baldemar's father was born into a Mexican American family in Driscoll, Texas.〔 His grandfather died when Cresencio was just 11 years old, forcing the young Cresencio to seek employment as a migrant worker.〔 Baldemar's maternal grandparents fled to Pharr in 1910 after the Mexican Revolution, and his mother, Vicenta, was born there in 1920.〔〔 His parents worked as migrant farm produce pickers in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas.〔 Baldemar Velásquez later said that his parents instilled in him a strong work ethic and a passion for social justice linked to the Christian faith.〔〔 Velásquez began assisting his parents in the fields when he was four years old.〔 His family traveled from the Southwest to Midwest each year, following the harvest season for various crops.〔"Farm Labor Organizing Committee," 2007, p. 441.〕 They rode with other migrant workers in a pickup truck with a canvas-covered bed, huddling around a can of hot ashes and covering themselves in blankets to stay warm.〔 Often, the family would have only a single room for the parents and all their children.〔 One winter, he and his siblings had gathered together for warmth while snow drifted into their one-room shack through gaps in the walls.〔Barger and Mendoza Reza, 1993, p. 57.〕 The family's poverty worsened one year when an employer paid his father only half the wages he was owed.〔 In 1954, his parents settled permanently in Gilboa, Ohio, where they worked in the fields in the summer and in a cannery during the winter.〔〔 Baldemar knew almost no English when he entered the first grade, and struggled academically.〔 He was a good athlete, playing several sports, but was often ridiculed for his Mexican American heritage.〔Barger and Mendoza Reza, 1993, p. 54-55.〕 Velásquez led his first strike at the age of 12, helping pickers at his summer job win better wages.〔Franklin, "Farm Workers' Group Pushes for Better Pay, Rights," ''Chicago Tribune,'' April 8, 2006.〕 He began to excel in his studies in the eighth grade, making honor roll.〔Barger and Mendoza Reza, 1993, p. 55.〕 He attended Pandora-Gilboa High School, where he participated in baseball, basketball, football, and track and field, and took college preparatory courses.〔 His high school career guidance counselor advised him to only focus on industrial arts courses, but Velásquez refused.〔 A high school English teacher convinced him to go to college. He enrolled at Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas, in 1965, intending to major in engineering.〔 Living in south Texas made him curious about his roots there, and he enrolled in a Texas history which, he said, opened his eyes to the exploitation of Mexican Americans and farmworkers.〔 A local Roman Catholic priest assisted him in obtaining financial aid, and he transferred to Ohio Northern College (a private, United Methodist Church-affiliated school) in 1966.〔 He transferred to Bluffton College (a private, Mennonite-affiliated school) a year later.〔 He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology in 1969.〔〔 While at Bluffton College, he was mentored by Dr. Lawrence Templin, a noted pacifist who had been imprisoned for his beliefs and was now a professor of English literature. Templin had grown up in India as the son of Christian missionaries and who knew Mohandas Gandhi personally.〔See, generally: Templin, 1999.〕 Templin's teachings deeply influence Velásquez's approach to securing social justice for farmworkers.〔 Templin knew Bayard Rustin while in prison,〔D'Emilio, 2003, p. 118.〕 and Templin encouraged him to volunteer with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)—a civil rights organization in which Rustin played a major role. Baldemar Velásquez spent several weeks in the summer of 1968 working with CORE and living with an African American family in Cleveland, Ohio.〔〔"Velásquez, Baldemar," in ''The Mexican American Experience: An Encyclopedia,'' 2003, p. 412.〕 After graduation, he spent time picking cherries in Michigan to pay off his student loans, and went to Wisconsin to meet with the founder of Obreros Unidos, Jesus Salas (also known as "Jesse Salas").〔〔 His association with Templin changed his life in another way as well: Baldemar Velásquez married Templin's daughter, Sara Templin, on June 11, 1969.〔 The couple had four children together.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baldemar Velasquez」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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