Labor leader and activist Dolores Huerta fought alongside Cesar Chavez to unionize farm workers, but her life in activism didn’t end at the picket line.
She continues to work for the working poor, women, and children, through theDolores Huerta Foundation. Huerta was recently the guest of honor at an event hosted by theSan Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Huerta and Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association which eventually became theUnited Farm Workers. Huerta also helped secure disability insurance for farm workers in California in 1963 and pushed toenact a law in 1975 that granted farm workers in California the right to collectively organize and bargain —the first of its kind in the U.S.
She was the special guest of the SAHCC for a breakfast event that kicked off a year-long theme for the chamber, Power of Our Voice.
What more powerful voice than that of Dolores Huerta?
Huerta spoke with TPR’s Norma Martinez after the event and reflected on how the rights she’s fought for in the last five decades have changed, and why the struggle seems to remain the same.
Listen to the Corrido de Dolores Huerta performed by Los Lobos and Carmen Moreno here:
Norma Martinez can be reached at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1 and Lauren Terrazas can be reached at lauren@tpr.org and on Twitter @terrazas_lauren.
