Tag Archives: civil rights

Why Stacey Abrams Keeps Georgia on my Mind

By Mandy Ryan

On June 9th, 2020, I stood in a long line waiting to vote in the 2020 presidential primary election  in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. My polling place was located in the heart of Sweet Auburn, a historically black neighborhood that is home to the famous Ebenezer Church, The King Center, and the final resting place of Martin Luther King, Jr. The line was so long that I couldn’t even see the building I was going to be voting in. More people were pouring in because their polling locations had closed overnight and they were told to come here at the last minute. The polling volunteer staff were short-handed and it wasn’t until after waiting two hours that many realized they weren’t standing in the right line for their temporary polling place. After three hours of waiting and three broken machines, I was finally able to cast my vote.

Five months later many would repeat this same struggle. Despite this, due to intense work by grassroots organizers, Black voter turnout increased by 25%, Latinx voter turnout by 18%, and Asian voter turnout by 12%. The increased voter turnout and mobilization of voters was due to the history of intense work by grassroots organizers, including an emerging breakout political leader, Stacey Abrams.

Who is Stacey Abrams?

Stacey Abrams has become a trailblazer as a political leader and had a huge impact on voter engagement, especially in underserved and diverse communities. Born in Wisconsin, she moved to Georgia in 1989 with her parents. Abrams earned a B.A. from Spelman College, before becoming a Texas Longhorn. She graduated from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT with her Masters in Public Affairs in 1998 and went on to receive her JD from Yale Law School. She would later receive the LBJ School’s Distinguished Public Service Award in 2019.

Abrams returned to Georgia where she held various local political appointments, including Deputy City Attorney for the city of Atlanta. She was elected a member of the Georgia State House of Representatives in 2006, representing the 89th district. She was the first woman to lead either party in the Georgia General Assembly and was the first African-American to lead in the House of Representatives. She remained a representative and was the minority leader for 11 years before relinquishing her seat to run for governor. In her spare time, Abrams is also an accomplished novelist under the pen name Selena Montgomery. 

The 2018 Georgia Governor’s Race

In 2018, Abrams became the first Black woman to be nominated by a major party as a candidate for Governor in her home state of Georgia. She won the democratic primary against Stacey Evans by a landslide 75% of the vote and celebrated her historic win with a moving speech, saying, “We are writing the next chapter of Georgia’s history, where no one is unseen, no one is unheard and no one is uninspired.”

Running against her was the current Secretary of State, Brian Kemp. Kemp held the position of Secretary of State for 8 years in a state that had earned a reputation as being one of the strictest on voting laws in the country. In 2018, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights stated that “no state has done more than Georgia in recent years to make voting difficult, especially for minorities.”

Georgia policy dictated that the voter registration polls be routinely cleaned up to remove those who had died, moved away, or voters that hadn’t voted in the previous two elections. At the height of the election season, over 500,000 registered voters were removed from the list, with 107,000 due to inactivity.

Stacey Abrams lost the Governor race to Brian Kemp by 55,000 votes in a race that saw an all time record breaking voter turnout in Georgia. Over 4 million votes were counted, representing 74% of all registered voters, and broke the previous record of 3.9 million voters in 2008. The state also saw a record number of early-voting, with 2,418,550 Georgians casting their ballots in the 45 days leading up to the election.

In a speech ending her candidacy for governor, Stacey called out voting policies and restrictions in Georgia that made voting difficult and stated, “Concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede.”

She did acknowledge that Kemp would be the next governor of Georgia and the legitimacy of the election, but challenged the policies of disenfranchising voters and sought ways to improve election operations moving forward.

The Creation of Fair Fight

In her speech, Abrams introduced Fair Fight, an non-partisan initiative to fund and train voter protection teams in 20 battleground states. Fair Fight Action works to engage voter mobilizations and increase education on policies especially in underserved communities regardless of political affiliation. It also helps to combat and bring awareness to potential voter suppression in Georgia and across the nation. With Abrams’ work and support, Fair Fight and her previous organization, New Georgia Project went on to register over 800,000 new voters for the 2020 Presidential election.

Abrams’ part in engaging and mobilizing voters, increasing voter turnout in marginalized communities, and combating voter suppression in Georgia during the 2020 election season resulted in her nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize.

What’s Happening Now

Less than 6 months following the 2020 November Presidential election, Georgia State Representatives passed SB202, or “The Election Integrity Act of 2021.” The new law makes a number of changes to the current voting structure in Georgia. It makes the pandemic-era absentee or mail-in ballots permanent, but it limits the number of people who can request mail-in ballots, expands identification requirements to receive a mail-in ballot, and decreases the time to request them by half. Additionally, mail-in or absentee ballot drop boxes will be limited to just early voting days and have been moved inside government buildings.

Outside of mail-in voting, the bill also gives state-level officials the authority to take control of county election boards that have had reported issues in voting for the previous two years. It includes language that would remove the Secretary of State as chair of the State Election Board, and places decision-making in the hands of the 5 board members. Furthermore, the bill criminalizes third-parties providing water or food to those waiting in voting lines. Civil rights groups are speaking out, calling the bill voter suppression and in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

How It Affects Texas

While Georgia may be the first state to pass new voting laws, it’s probably not the last. In fact, over 41 states currently have bills on the docket that would change current voting procedure, including Texas. The Texas State Senate advanced Senate Bill 7, a bill similar to Georgia’s, imposing similar restrictions on mail-in ballots, limiting early voting periods, and prohibiting distribution of voter registration applications to those who don’t request them. The bill was widely debated in the house, with politicians adding amendments to address language that had advocates for Black, Latinx, and disabled voters concerned. The bill passed the house, but is still undergoing rewriting.

Reactions

Organizations such as ARL have signed a Statement on Voting Rights by Higher Education, stating a concern that new policies regarding student voter registration may make voting more difficult across college campuses. Texas organizations, such as AARP and the Texas League of Women Voters also raised concerns for the impact it would have on constituents.

What Can You Do?

In honor of fellow Longhorn Stacey Abrams, and in light of the current state bills, I encourage you to stay informed on new voting laws and how they may affect your current voting process.  Below are a list of resources to help you stay aware and keep you prepared so that your voting will go smoothly in the next election cycle. If you’d like to know more about Stacey Abrams, local Austin bookstore, Book People, will be hosting a virtual event with her this Saturday to discuss her new novel.

Voting Resources:

Organizations Dedicated to Voter Mobilization:

  • Move Texas: “MOVE is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, grassroots organization building power in underrepresented youth communities through civic education, leadership development, and issue advocacy.”
  • Common Cause – Texas: “Common Cause Texas has an innovative, pragmatic, and comprehensive pro-democracy agenda. We’re here to build a better democracy in our Lone Star State.”
  • Jolt Initiative: “Jolt initiative is a 501c3 non-profit organization that increases the civic participation of Latinos to build a stronger democracy and ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.”
  • Black Voters Matter: “Black Voters Matter goal is to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities.”
  • Rev-up Texas: a non-partisan statewide effort to outreach and to empower persons with disabilities and our allies to get more involved in electoral politics.

Organizations Promoting Diverse Political Candidates

Books by Stacey Abrams

Trans Day of Visibility 2021

Since 2010, March 31 has been marked as Transgender Day of Visibility. Historically, this day is meant to be a celebration of trans and non-binary lives, unlike the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, which dates back to 1999 and is observed annually on November 20 to memorialize lives taken by violence against trans people.

Trans Day of Visibility arrives this year with a couple notable moves forward, but significant–and glaring–steps backward for trans rights embitter a day meant for trans celebration.

President Biden this year became the first U.S. president to issue a proclamation to formally recognize Trans Day of Visibility in the United States. The Biden administration has also overturned the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and named Dr. Rachel Levine as the first openly transgender person to hold federal office.

While these are victories to be sure, it’s difficult celebrate these small moves toward trans visibility while 2021 has already set a record for anti-trans legislation. Trans Day of Visibility is especially fraught today by the passage of HB 1507 in Arkansas, which yesterday further trampled the civil rights of arguably the most vulnerable people in the state, trans youth.

Texas is not far behind with Senate Bill 1311 aimed at prohibiting trans youth from receiving essential health care related to their gender identities.

While Trans Visibility is important every year, it feels especially critical this year. The onslaught of anti-trans legislations from so many states, and the murders of 12 trans people already reported, this year demands not just the recognition of trans lives, but their protection. It is more critical than ever for allies to act.

We ask that you join us both today and moving forward as we work to increase trans visibility and protect trans rights and lives.

What you can do

Stay informed

  • Follow the Twitter #TransRightsAreHumanRights
  • Know what legislation is being considered in your state
  • Find out which of your local and federal officials support anti-trans legislation and contact their offices to voice your disapproval
  • Be aware of how others (including family, friends, coworkers, and news sources) speak about the trans community and speak up when you hear or read someone perpetuate harmful rhetoric (including misgendering)  about trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people

Educate yourself and those around you

Public Domain images of Eleanor Roosevelt

The Life and Legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt

By Elle Covington and Brenna Wheeler

This week, we’re celebrating the life and legacy of the rabble rousing and possibly queer human rights activist and First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. She was an outspoken and controversial figure during her life, making many interesting friends and powerful enemies, including J. Edgar Hoover, and thus the FBI. She has the distinction of having one of the largest files in the FBI’s collection.

The sheer amount accomplished during her 78 years can and does fill volumes, and though we can’t do the full breadth or depth of it justice here, we highly recommend the linked resources to get a taste of the fascinating life of this fearless person.

October 11 marks the 135th anniversary of her birth, and it feels especially appropriate this year to revisit her words and reflect on the legacy that continues through the ongoing struggle for equality for all people, including those she considered her chosen family.

Early Years

Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884 in New York City to Anna Rebecca Hall and Elliot Roosevelt, brother of future president Theodore Roosevelt. She was raised by her maternal grandmother, Mary Livingston Ludlow after the death of both of her parents by the time Roosevelt was 9.

In 1905, at the age of 20, Eleanor Roosevelt married her fifth cousin, once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During the early years of their marriage, she became increasingly politically and socially active, while her husband started his own political climb.

Image of the Cover of The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

White House Years

In 1933, FDR was inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States and Eleanor Roosevelt became an explosive and influential first lady. Two days after the inauguration, Roosevelt became the 1st First Lady to hold her own press conferences. The idea was suggested to her by Associated Press reporter Lorena Hickok, who Roosevelt would go on to have long and likely intimate relationship.

Attendance at these press conferences was restricted to women reporters only, beginning the Women’s Press Corps for the White House. This forced many newspapers to hire women reporters—often the first women they’d ever hired for these positions—so that they’d be able to cover the press conferences.

Roosevelt also began writing a regular newspaper column, entitled “My Day,” and worked as a radio commentator to the chagrin of many in the White House. On December 7, 1941, Roosevelt gave a radio address on the attack at Pearl Harbor before FDR’s address to the nation.

During World War II, Roosevelt continued to be a voice for human rights. She wrote and spoke out harshly against Hitler and Mussolini and even openly criticized and argued against her husband’s policy of Japanese internment in the US. She lobbied for day care centers and wage equity for women entering the work force, and convinced FDR to create a Committee on Fair Employment Practices to ban employment discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity.

Image of Book Cover of No Ordinary Time
No Ordinary Time

Post-White House Years

FDR died in April 1945 while still in office, ending Roosevelt’s time as First Lady after 12 years in the position. However, this did not conclude her influence or humanitarian drive. No longer constrained by the political restraints of the white house, she immediately joined the NAACP Board of Directors and the Congress on Racial Equality Board. Then, in December, President Truman appointed Roosevelt to serve as the only woman delegate to the new United Nations General Assembly.

In April 1946, Roosevelt became the first chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, where she was instrumental in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She went on to have a long and influential tenure in the United Nations.

In 1961, President Kennedy appointed Roosevelt to chair the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. Though she participated in the commission for as long as she was able, Roosevelt succumbed to bone marrow disease before the final report could be issued.

Relationships and FBI File

During her life, Roosevelt’s social status as well as her activism put her into contact with many well-known figures. She forged long-standing friendships with such pioneers as Carrie Chapman Catt, Pauli Murray, Martha Gellhorn, and Amelia Earhart as well as many other reformers and activists.

There has been much debate surrounding the extent of the relationship between Roosevelt and AP reporter Lorena Hickok. Lengthy, daily letters between the two hint at more than a platonic friendship, at least during some portion of their relationship. Whether or not the relationship ever became physical, queer relationships were not a foreign concept for Roosevelt. Her closest friendships throughout the 1920s were with two lesbian couples whom she considered her chosen family: Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook, and Esther Lape and Elizabeth Read (p. 70).

Image of Book cover of Eleanor and Hick
Eleanor and Hick: The love affair that shaped a First Lady
Image of book cover of Empty without you
Empty Without You: the intimate letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok

Roosevelt’s friendship with activist and future Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Lash brought Roosevelt to the attention of the FBI, culminating in a 3,000 page FBI file following her through the White House years and beyond, concerned primarily with her involvement in civil rights activism.

Legacy

Thirty-eight years after her death, President Clinton declared October 11, 2000 Eleanor Roosevelt Day in honor of her tireless work to promote the health, dignity, and welfare of all people. Now, 19 years after that, October 11 is marked by a US Supreme Court hearing in which the basic tenants of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights hang in the balance.

Earlier this week, the court began hearing and debating three cases of alleged employment discrimination against members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The debate centers around whether or not sexual and gender minorities fall under the employment protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Throughout her life, and especially during the later years when her most ardent civil rights work was accomplished, Roosevelt adamantly insisted that education, housing, and employment were basic human rights, to which all people are entitled.

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, arguably Roosevelt’s greatest accomplishment:

  • Article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
  • Article 7: “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.”
  • Article 23
    • (1): “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
    • (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
    • (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
    • (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”

*Read the full declaration

It is still to be seen whether the Supreme Court will follow the example of Eleanor Roosevelt in declaring these rights for all people, or whether they will decide that employers are able to deny the right to employment to members of a community with whom Roosevelt, if she were alive today, might even choose to identify.

The Supreme Court’s decision is expected next June.

More Collection HighlightsImage of Book Cover for Eleanor Roosevelt and the anti-nuclear movement

Her Own Words

Correspondence

AV Materials

*Featured photos at the top of this post are Public Domain images courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library archives.

Image of Dolores documentary

Dolores Huerta

By Brenna Wheeler

On September 10th, UT Libraries and the Latino Studies department are co-sponsoring a screening of the film “Dolores: Rebel, Activist, Feminist, Mother.” In collaboration with this event, the DAC blog would like to highlight some collection resources available on the work and life of Dolores Huerta.

Early Life

Dolores Huerta and her two brothers were raised in Stockton, California by their mother Alicia Chávez after her divorce from their father Juan Fernández, a coal miner who later became a politician in New Mexico. As a single mother Alicia supported herself and her children by working her way up through the food service industry until she owned a restaurant and a hotel. It was her mother’s “independence and entrepreneurial spirit” that would inspire Huerta’s feminism and activism. From a young age, Huerta joined her mother in becoming active in community civic organizations and local church events (Dolores Huerta Foundation; García 2008, pg. xvi). She continued being active in her community through high school. Soon after graduating, she earned a teaching credential from the University of Pacific’s Delta College in Stockton (Dolores Huerta Foundation).

In 1955, Huerta founded the Stockton branch of the Community Service Organization (CSO), which promoted civic participation in Spanish-speaking communities and focused on political and social concerns of working-class, urban, Mexican-American families in California and Arizona (“Huerta, Dolores Clara Fernandez (B. 1930)” 2013; Rose 2008, pg. 10). Through the CSO, Huerta met the activists Fred Ross and Cézar Chávez. In 1962, Chávez and Huerta left the CSO to begin the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) in order to focus specifically on agricultural labor (García 2008, pg. xvii).

Labor Unions

In the newly formed NFWA, Huerta and Chávez worked to gather a member base and set up the organization from their base of operations in Delano. The NFWA was quickly called upon by the AFL-CIO-supported union the Agricultural Workers’ Organizing Committee (AWOC) to honor the Delano Grape Strike of 1965 (Rose 2008, pg. 15). Despite NFWA’s small size, the new union voted to join the strike on Mexican Independence Day, September 16th (García 2008, pg. xvii). For five years, Huerta led strikes, directed boycotts, and negotiated collective bargaining until 1970, when the Delano and Coachella grape growers finally negotiated with the strikers to create new contacts meeting the union’s demands. Before the strike, growers utilized racial and ethnic tensions to divide workers, a tactic which Huerta and Chávez fought against by gathering support from a wide audience across the United States (Rose 2008, pg. 15-18). The strike’s success was partially due to the solidarity between AWOC (a large portion of which were Filipino-Americans), NFWA (a large portion of which were Mexican-Americans), and middle-class white supporters of the boycotts.

The strike would eventually lead to the merging of ALF-CIO and the NFWA into the new United Farm Workers Organizing Committee in 1966. Huerta became Chief Negotiator and Director of Boycotts, which gave her the responsibility of managing the boycotts against table grapes, lettuce, and Gallo Winery. These boycotts pushed for the passing of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (1975), which allowed California farm workers to collectively organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions, as well as establish the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Later, United Farm Workers of America would become an independent affiliate of the AFL-CIO (“Huerta, Dolores Clara Fernandez (B. 1930)” 2013, Dolores Huerta Foundation).

Feminism

Huerta’s work with the grape boycotts involved directing the boycott in New York and later the entire East Coast. While in these areas, she came into contact with feminist activists like Eleanor Smeal and Gloria Steinem, who supported the farmworker’s cause. The feminist movement encouraged Huerta to challenge gender bias and sexism in her own organization and to openly discuss women’s issues, including childcare and sexual harassment in the workplace (Huerta and Rosenbloom 2019; Rose 2008, pg. 17-18). In an interview with Frontline, Huerta described counting the number of sexist remarks she heard during board meetings and then announcing the number at the end of the meeting. After she started doing this, the number dropped from fifty-eight instances to zero, and soon, the men would “check themselves” before the meetings began. Through such openness, workshops, and discussions with other women about their experiences, Huerta pushed for feminism within her own labor movement (Breslow 2013). In 1991, Huerta left the United Farm Workers to work with the Feminist Majority’s Feminization of Power Campaign to encourage Latina women to run for public office (“Huerta, Dolores Clara Fernandez (B. 1930)” 2013).

Activism Today

In 1993, Huerta returned as leader to the UFW after Chávez passed away, and today, she still acts as Vice-President Emeritus. She also currently runs the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which defines itself as a “community benefit organization which recruits, trains, organizes, and empowers grassroots leaders in low-income communities to attain social justice through systemic and structural transformation”. In recent years, she has won a series of awards for her activism, including The Eleanor Roosevelt Humans Rights Award from President Clinton in 1998, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2012, and being inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2013 (Dolores Huerta Foundation). Even today, Huerta is still active in her work, speaking at various organizations, hosting workshops and trainings, and giving TED Talks.

References

Breslow, J.M. (2013). “Dolores Huerta: An ‘Epidemic in the Fields’.” from PBS: Frontline. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/dolores-huerta-an-epidemic-in-the-fields/

García, M.T. (ed.) (2008) A Dolores Huerta Reader. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

Griswold del Castillo, R. and García, R.A. (2008) “Coleadership: The Strength of Dolores Huerta” in A Dolores Huerta Reader. Edited by Mario T. García. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Dolores Huerta Foundation. Retrieved from here.

“Huerta, Dolores Clara Fernandez (B. 1930).” (2013). In Suffrage to the Senate: America’s Political Women: an Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues (3rd ed.). Edited by S. O’Dea. Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing. Retrieved from here.

Huerta D. and Rosenbloom, Rachel. (2019). “Ask a Feminist: Dolores Huerta and Rachel Rosenbloom Discuss Gender and Immigrant Rights,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 44, no. 2. Retrieved from here.

Rose, M. (2008) “Dolores Huerta: The United Farm Workers Union” in A Dolores Huerta Reader. Edited by Mario T. García. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

Collection Highlights

Image of Dolores documentary coverDolores (2018) [DVD, Streaming]

“Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cézar Chávez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century. Includes Spanish subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.”

In Her Own Words

Cover image for A Dolores Huerta ReaderA Dolores Huerta Reader edited by Mario T. García [Book]

“Farm labor leader and civil rights advocate Dolores Huerta first worked with César Chávez as a community organizer in Mexican American areas of southern California in the mid-1950s. Chávez dreamed of organizing farm workers, and in 1962 he started the National Farm Workers Association. He asked Huerta to work with them, and in the next three years they recruited a number of members. This is the first book to focus on Dolores Huerta. Throughout six decades of activism, she has made her own history and has been part of major events in the history of the country. A Dolores Huerta Reader includes an informative biographical introduction, articles and book excerpts written about her, her own writing and speeches, and a recent interview with Mario García where she expresses her unbending dedication to social justice.”

Cover image of The Migrant ProjectThe Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers by Rick Nahmias, foreword by Dolores Huerta. [Book]

“The Migrant Project includes the images and text of the traveling exhibition of the same name, along with numerous outtakes and an in-depth preface by Nahmias. Accompanied by a Foreword from United Farm Worker co-creator Dolores Huerta, essays by top farm worker advocates, and oral histories from farm workers themselves, this volume should find itself at home in the hands of everyone from the student and teacher, to the activist, the photography enthusiast, and the consumer.”

Cover image of Signs journal“Ask a Feminist: Dolores Huerta and Rachel Rosenbloom Discuss Gender and Immigrant Rights” in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society [Article]

“For this edition of Ask a Feminist, Dolores Huerta—renowned labor organizer, immigrant rights activist, and feminist advocate—speaks with Rachel Rosenbloom, professor of Law at Northeastern University, about the role that gender plays in today’s struggles and social movements, especially those working on behalf of immigrants and workers. Drawing on her long history of organizing, Huerta offers insights on the contemporary political landscape—from the #MeToo movement to the fight for the DREAMers to opposition to Donald Trump. Huerta’s long history of fighting for social justice serves as a crucial guide for building a sustained and intersectional resistance.”

Documents from the Labor Movement

  1. Documents of the Chicano Movement edited by Roger Bruns [Book]
    • “This book provides a variety of original source documents–from first-hand accounts to media responses to legislative texts–regarding the Chicano movement of the 1960s through 1970s that enable readers to better comprehend the key events, individuals, and developments of La Causa: Chicanos uniting to free themselves of liberation from exploitation, oppression, and racism.”
  2. Image of United Farm Workers logoThe sabotage and subversion of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act: a United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO [White Paper]
  3. Collections of the United Farm Workers of America [Microfilm]
    • “Collection includes: executive correspondence and meeting minutes, as well organizer’s reports from the field, testimony and speeches, boycott flyers, letters from supporters and autograph seekers, songs, and prayers, communications between Chavez and his organizers, the Kennedy’s, the Church hierarchy, civil rights leaders, union leaders, and Chicano militants.”
  4. Collections of the United Farm Workers of America. Papers of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, 1959-1966 [Microfilm]
    • “Correspondence, clippings, reports, press releases, memoranda, newsletters, notes, and other materials relating to Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.”
  5. Collections of the United Farm Workers of America: Series 2, Papers of the United Farm Workers of America Work Department, 1969-1975 [Microfilm]
    • “Correspondence, clippings, memoranda, reports, financial papers, speeches, pamphlets, minutes, and other materials relating to the United Farm Workers Work Department.”
  6. Collections of the United Farm Workers of America: Part 2, 1965-1992, Office Files of the President of the United Farm Workers of America [Microfilm]
    • “Collection includes: executive correspondence and meeting minutes, as well organizer’s reports from the field, testimony and speeches, boycott flyers, letters from supporters and autograph seekers, songs, and prayers, communications between Chavez and his organizers, the Kennedy’s, the Church hierarchy, civil rights leaders, union leaders, and Chicano militants.”
  7. National Farm Workers Association Records, 1960-1967 [Microfilm]
    • “Organized into the following series: I. General correspondence files, 1962-1966, boxes 1-2. II. Correspondence with NFWA members files, 1962-1966, boxes 3-4. III. General topic files, 1960-1967 ; arranged alphabetically and chronologically.”
  8. National Farm Workers Association Records, 1960-1967 [Microfilm]
    • “Organized into the following series: I. General correspondence files, 1962-1966, boxes 1-2. II. Correspondence with NFWA members files, 1962-1966, boxes 3-4. III. General topic files, 1960-1967 ; arranged alphabetically and chronologically.”
  9. Papers of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, 1959-1970 [Microfilm]
  10. “Position paper in support of the United Farm Workers of America” Researched and Prepared by Judy Elders. [Book]
    • “Adopted by the Houston Metropolitan Ministries Board of Directors, August 5, 1974.”
  11. The Texas Farm Worker Boycott Newsletter by the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO [Book]
    • “Description based on: #27, published in 1975”
  12. The Texas Farm Worker Newsletter [Book]Cover image of El Malcriado
  13. “Illegal Alien Farm Labor Activity in California and Arizona” prepared by the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO [Book]
  14. Huelga: a Film (c. 1966) by the United Farm Workers of America [Video]“Depicts the 100 mile protest march of the migrant farm workers from Delano to Sacramento, California.”
  15. El Malcriado: the Voice of the Farm Worker [Serial] English, Español
    • “Issued as the official voice of the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO.”
  16. No Grapes (1992) [Video] English, Español
    • “Exposes the dangers of pesticides that are used on grapes in California and the health hazards to the farm workers and their children who work in the vineyards.”
  17. Si se puede! [CD]Cover image of Si Se Puede CD
    • “An anthology of original songs composed by actual members of the UnitedFarm Workers and by others [who] have long supported their struggle for justice and dignity in the agricultural fields of America”

Scholars on Huerta

  1. Cover image of Si, Ella Puede¡Sí, Ella Puede!: the Rhetorical Legacy of Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers by Stacey K. Sowards [Book]
    • “In this new study, Stacey K. Sowards closely examines Huerta’s rhetorical skills both in and out of the public eye and defines Huerta’s vital place within Chicana/o history. Referencing the theoretical works of Pierre Bourdieu, Chela Sandoval, Gloria Anzaldúa, and others, Sowards closely analyzes Huerta’s speeches, letters, and interviews. She shows how Huerta navigates the complex intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, language, and class through the myriad challenges faced by women activists of color. Sowards’s approach to studying Huerta’s rhetorical influence offers a unique perspective for understanding the transformative relationship between agency and social justice.”
  2. Dolores Huerta: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist by Robin S. Doak.[Book]
    • “Born on April 10, 1930, Huerta learned to be outspoken at a young age from her mother, who was a businesswoman and an activist. As a young woman, she battled segregation and pushed for better public services through the Community Service Organization, which she co-founded. Huerta soon realized that the needs and rights of farmworkers needed support. She worked with Cesar Chavez, a fellow activist for farmworkers, to organize the farmworkers into a single union. From organizing boycotts to lobbying for the farmworkers’ job conditions, Huerta relentlessly strove to help others.”
  3. Dolores Huerta Stands Strong: the Woman who Demanded Justice by Marlene Targ Brill [Book]
    • “Dolores Huerta Stands Strong follows Huerta’s life from the mining communities of the Southwest where her father toiled, to the vineyards and fields of California, and across the country to the present day. As she worked for fair treatment for others, Dolores earned the nation’s highest honors. More important, she found her voice.”
  4. Chicana Leadership: the Frontiers Reader edited by Yolanda Flores Neimann et al. [Book, eBook]
    • “Chicana Leadership: The “Frontiers” Reader breaks the stereotypes of Mexican American women and shows how these women shape their lives and communities. This collection looks beyond the frequently held perception of Chicanas as passive and submissive and instead examines their roles as dynamic community leaders, activists, and scholars.”Cover image of A Crushing Love
  5. A Crushing Love: Chicanas, Motherhood, and Activism (2009) [DVD]
    • “A documentary that honors five mothers who have raised families and have made important contributions as workers, activists, educators, leaders, and who effect broad-based social change.”
  6. La Causa: the Migrant Farmworkers’ Story by Dana Catharine de Ruiz and Richard Gutierrez [Book]
    • “Describes the efforts in the 1960s of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to organize migrant workers in California into a union which became the United Farm Workers.”
  7. Dolores Huerta by Rebecca Thatcher Murcia [Book]
    • “This special series focuses on the unique contributions Hispanics have made in the United States from the earliest Spanish explorers to the many successful Latinos in contemporary America. Each book provides historical and factual easy-reading stories. The books are jam-packed with information and contain between 7500 and 9000 words. Along with Cesar Chavez established the United Farm Workers to protect the rights of farm workers.”
  8. Dolores Huerta: General Bibliography and Short Biography by Denise Guckert [Book]

Have recommendations of your own? Let us know about them in the comments!