96. Dolores Huerta: The Woman Who Led the Farm Workers Movement Alongside Cesar Chavez

In this episode, Yo celebrates Labor Day, the national holiday in the U.S. that remembers all those that have contributed and when she thought about what leaders best represented the American labor movement she was drawn to the efforts of Cesar Chavez, maybe it was because Chavez was her maiden name, or that he resembled her own father’s looks, or that SJSU has a monument to the man in the center of campus that calls to her whenever on campus, or that she boycotted grapes for years when growing up, or joined her dad as a very young girl, like 6 years old, on the picket line when LAUSD teachers were striking in 1960.

She talked the idea of the episode over with one of her trusted advisors, her millennial daughter, Emma, who said, why do Cesar? Why don’t you do Dolores Huerta – tell her story as the female who took the lead alongside Cesar? After all, Dolores did everything that Cesar did – but she did it while raising 11 children! So the episode was born and research began.

3 Episode Takeaways:

1. Dolores was a tireless advocate for the rights of farmworkers, children, immigrants, and others.

2. It was her words “Si, se puede” (Yes, we can) that became the rallying for the farmworker’s movement and was later borrowed by Barack Obama during his election campaign.

3. She was fierce negotiator, the first non-lawyer, Latina,

As Mentioned in the Episode:

Huelga, Dolores Huerta Stands Strong

by Marlene Targ Brill

Cesar Chavez, Autobiography of La Causa by Jacques E. Levy

Cesar Chavez by Hal Marcovitz

Fight Like Hell, The Untold history of American Labor by Kim Kelly

A Collective Bargain – Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy by Jane McAlevey

San José State University Campus Monuments
Created for SJSU by renowned Chicana artist, activist and scholar, Judy Baca, the arch commemorates Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez through images of his life and work. It includes Dolores Huerta.

Cesar Chavez, (film)

Related Episode:

Ep 65. The Power of Latino Leadership, Our Culture, Inclusion & Contribution

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