is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who was the co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta has received numerous awards for her community service and advocacy for workers’, immigrants’, and women’s rights, including the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award, the United States Presidential Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights and the Presidential Medal of Freedom…
Born on April 10, 1930, in the mining town of Dawson, New Mexico, Huerta was the daughter of Juan Fernandez–a minder, field/farm worker, union activist, and state assemblyman–and Alicia Chavez. Huerta was the couple’s second child and only daughter; the couple divorced when Huerta was three years old. Chavez raised Huerta and her two brothers in the central California farm worker community of Stockton, California. Huerta’s mother was known for her kindness and compassion towards others and was active in community affairs, numerous civic organizations, and the church. She encouraged the cultural diversity that was a natural part of Huerta’s upbringing in Stockton. Alicia Chavez was a businesswoman who owned a restaurant and a 70-room hotel where she welcomed low-wage workers and farm worker families for affordable prices and sometimes even for free. Her mother is the reason behind her caring and willingness and attitude to help farm workers later on in her life. Her mother was a very involved woman within the community. In an interview she claimed, “The dominant person in my life is my mother. She was very intelligent woman and very gentle women.” This prompted Huerta to think about civil rights. Her mother’s generous actions that she displayed when Dolores was a child is the reason why she has developed her non-violent strong spiritual force. In the same interview she said, “When we talk about spiritual forces, I think that Hispanic women are more familiar with spiritual forces. We know what fasting is, and that it is part of the culture. We know what relationships are, and we know what sacrifice is.”
Huerta’s community activism began when she was a student in Stockton High School. Huerta was active in numerous school clubs and was a majorette and a dedicated member of the Girl Scouts until the age of 18. In school she remembers a teacher accusing her of stealing another student’s work and giving her an unfair grade, an act she considers to be based in racial bias. Having lived life as a minority being sidelined because of her Hispanic origin, she grew up know that there were things in the society that needed to be changed. Huerta attended college at the University of the Pacific’s Stockton College, where she earned a provisional teaching credential. After teaching grammar school, Huerta left her job and began her lifelong crusade to correct economic injustice.
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