Smith 2 Jaeda Smith 3/31/12 Dolores Huerta: Labor Activist (1930- ) Dolores Huerta was born in Dawson, New

Mexico on April 10, 1930. Her parents, Juan Fernandez and Alicia Chavez Hernandez raised Dolores along with her two brothers. Doloress dad was a miner and an activist. He helped other workers try to get better working conditions. During this time period many people could not find full-time jobs and sometimes were forced to travel far over to find part-time work such as picking crops. When Dolores was about six years old her parents divorced and her mother moved her and her brothers to Stockton, California. There Doloress mom worked as a waitress and in a factory canning food to take care of her and her children. Latter on Doloress mother married a man name James Richards and together they bought a small hotel where Dolores and her siblings frequently worked after school. The people who often stayed at the hotel were migrant farm workers who made very little money and who often couldnt pay their rent. But Doloress mother let them stay and made sure they had food to eat as well. Growing up Dolores was never made fun or judged because she was Latino. She enjoyed school and the neighborhood that she lived in. She took music and dancing lessons and was even a Girl Scout. During the summers Dolores worked in fruit canning factories where she sliced open fruit and put them into trays. It was a hard and dangerous job because workers had to use very sharp knives and the fruit was very slippery. It took all day to fill just a few trays and Dolores was never paid very much for her work. When Dolores went on to high school things started to change. One teacher would not give Dolores the grade she deserved on a paper because she believed Latinos could not write very well. Another time Dolores organized a club for teenagers. At the club there was dancing, music, and games. The club was soon shut down when police found out that African American, Latino and White students went there together. Although these situations were unfair and injustice it did not at all stop Dolores from doing what she felt was right. After high school Dolores decided to go to college which was very unusual in those days. Dolores latter dropped out of college to get married and with her husband she had two daughters named Lori and Celeste. But Dolores soon found out that she had other goals than being a housewife. Her and her husband got a divorce and Dolores went back to college to become a school teacher. When Dolores started teaching most of her students were children of migrant farm works. Many of the students had clothes or shoes that were falling apart and often they were so hungry they could not pay attention in class. Dolores wanted to help their families and when she heard about a group called the Community Service Organization (CSO) she left her teaching job to start one in Stockton.

Smith 2 When Dolores started working with the CSO in the 1950s she met a man named Cesar Chavez. He had been working for the CSO for about ten years and in 1959 he became president of the CSO. Dolores and Cesar shared many of the same ideas about workers rights. When CSO would not allow workers to start their own union Dolores and Ceasar both moved to Delano. They decided to call their union The National Farm Workers Association. It was not easy for Dolores and Cesar to get workers to join their union. Farm workers were afraid of being fired and union dues were $3.50 a month which was bout one days pay for many of the workers. Soon getting workers wasnt a problem and once there were about 200 union workers Cesar and Dolores lead a beg meeting to elect officers. The NFWA started a bank and store for its workers and they helped workers get life insurance. Along with working with NFWA Dolores lead many strikes. One strike Dolores did was the grape strike. During this strike workers encouraged people not to buy grapes so that the crops would die and owners of the crops would give workers better pay and working conditions. Finally in 1966 a large grape owner called Schnely agreed to give the workers $1.75 an hour, paid holidays and vacations, and a sixday work week. The NFWA decided to join another new union called the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. (UFWOC). Along with protesting Dolores led boycotts, one even went on for four years. One year Dolores was protesting and was beaten badly by the police. But that didnt stop her. She eventually took the police to court and after that police were not allowed to beat protesters. Because of Doloress efforts she was able to change how farm workers were treated and spread hope among migrant workers communities. She has received many awards and is a member of the National Womens Hall of Fame. In 1998 a magazine chose her as Woman of the Year. She was even given an award by President BILL Clinton in 1999. Dolores is now 75 but continues to march and speak out for workers and womens rights.