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Cesar Chavez: Loyola and Mundelein
Hailing Cesar cover image is from the documentary by Eduardo Chavez, Cesar Chavez's grandson. The film follows Eduardo's journey to understand the importance of his grandfather's life and his efforts to promote the civil rights, wages, and living conditions of farm workers. The documentary was screened at Loyola on February 19, 2018.
In honor of Cesar Chavez, activist and organizer, the WLA is highlighting history of his connections to Mundelein College. The audio clips presented here illustrate Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Worker’s close association with the Mundelein College Peace Studies Program, the precursor of the Loyola University Peace Studies Program.
Mundelein College was founded in 1930 in Chicago, Illinois by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM). From its inception, the college was deeply committed to principles of peace and justice. For sixty years, Mundelein offered a comprehensive Catholic liberal arts education in the setting of a women’s college before affiliating with Loyola in 1991.
Dr. Prudence Moylan (left) Boycotting Lettuce
In the first audio clip, Loyola Professor Prudence Moylan, who served in leadership with both peace programs, explains the importance of Cesar Chavez’s philosophy of nonviolence to the Catholic vision of peace.
Carol Frances Jegen, 1983
In the second audio clip, Professor Moylan shares the story of the Mundelein Peace Studies’ director, Sister Carol Frances Jegen’s participation in an early 1970s United Farm Workers Strike which resulted in her arrest and incarceration.
Credits: Nathan Ellstrand and Jenny Clay, WLA volunteers and Loyola University Chicago PhD students
