1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom Never Told You from how Supports 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: and I'm Caroline. And earlier this week we talked about 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: women and farming and agriculture, and today we want to 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: spotlight a woman who has been highly influential when it 6 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: comes to female farm workers and also women in union 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: organizing more generally, and that is the incredible trailblazing Dolores Querta. Yeah, Delorata. 8 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: Her accomplishments are outstanding, they are amazing. They're enough to 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: blow you away. But it almost feels like she is 10 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: more known for how unknown she is compared to her 11 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: partner in activism, says Are Chavez. Yeah so. Dolors Tuerta 12 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: is a labor activist and was a leading figure of 13 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: the Chicano civil rights movement in the nineteen sixties and seventies, 14 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: and she, along with stas Ar Chavez, formed the United 15 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: farm Workers and some people might be familiar with the 16 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: nationwide Great boycott that they spearheaded in the nineteen sixties. 17 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: That will talk about more, and she was influential in 18 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: devising the entire strike and also being a spokesperson for 19 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: these migrant farm workers, a lot of them of Mexican descent, 20 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: who had no one else to speak on their behalf. Really, 21 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: before and before we get into who she is and 22 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: her biography, I just want to offer this quote from 23 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: a woman farm worker um that we found in a 24 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: Dolores Squerta reader and who said it was Dolores who 25 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: showed us not to be afraid to fight for a 26 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: better life for ourselves and our children. And she did 27 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: it at a time when women didn't have a voice. 28 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: So who is this incredible woman. Well, this incredible woman 29 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: was born Dolores Clara Fernandez on April tenth, nineteen thirty, 30 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,239 Speaker 1: in the mining town of Dawson, New Mexico, and her 31 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 1: parents were pretty impressive people themselves. Her dad, Wan Fernandez, 32 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: was a minor and migrant farmer who eventually became not 33 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: only a union activist, but who also served in the 34 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: New Mexico state legislature. Her mom, Alicia, divorced one early 35 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: on when Dolores was pretty young, and she ended up 36 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: moving Dolores and her two brothers to Stockton, California, made 37 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: famous by the book Grapes of Wrath, where there was 38 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: a large multicultural agricultural community with lots of working class 39 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: and even poorer families. Yeah. This community was largely made 40 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: up of Mexican, Filipino, African, American, Japanese and Chinese migrant workers. 41 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: And Dolores herself had a lightly more privileged upbringing. She 42 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: didn't work in the fields. She was also bilingual and 43 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: later attended college. Um but I mean she was still 44 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: being raised by a single mom for a little while 45 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: who was holding down two jobs. I believe she was 46 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: working in a factory and then also was waiting tables, 47 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: and then she eventually remarried a couple of times. Um. 48 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: But growing up, Dolores piled around a lot with her brothers, 49 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: and she sites growing up with her brothers as being 50 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: really influential for later working largely with men like Caesar's 51 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: Chavas and all the other union activists around her. Yeah. 52 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: She also cites her mom's independence, the fact that her mom, Alicia, 53 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: worked her way up from jobs in a factory and 54 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: also waiting tables to owning her own restaurant and running 55 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: a hotel with her second husband, as shaping her later 56 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: feminism and her drive to succeed. Yeah, and she was 57 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: also an active girl Scout until she was eighteen. Um. 58 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: She even today cites her Girl Scout troop leader as 59 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: being one of her major role models. So perhaps of 60 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: the Girl Scouts um. But when it comes to the 61 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: social justice that would become her life, she talks about 62 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: how simply by virtue of growing up as a person 63 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: of color at the time that she did although you 64 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: could say the same thing for people of color today, 65 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: she continually witnessed instances of social injustice and flat out racism. Um. 66 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: She mentioned at one point a racist teacher who accused 67 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: her of stealing another student's work, and also her brother 68 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: being beaten up because of a zoot suit that he 69 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: was wearing at one time, which was a popular World 70 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: War Two era Latino fashion. So it wasn't always easy 71 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: growing up. But one thing that really drove her, and 72 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: this was something that was hit home hard by Mario Garcia, 73 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: who's the editor of That Dolores Square to reader that 74 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: Christians sided a minute ago, was her religion. She grew 75 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: up very Catholic, is still very devoutly Catholic, but she 76 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: really saw her faith, Garcia writes, through the lens of 77 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: social justice, especially for the poor and powerless. She was 78 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: driven by her spirituality and her faith that she and 79 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: her kids and her family and people around her, you 80 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: can't just sit and rest on your laurels and take 81 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:24,719 Speaker 1: care of just yourself. You have to look out for 82 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: the people who are suffering around you too well. And 83 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: speaking again to the influence of her mom, uh, she 84 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: would also give hotel rooms for free two very poor 85 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: migrant families that might be coming through. So it was 86 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,159 Speaker 1: something that was very much modeled for her as well. 87 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: And when she grows up, she starts to head toward 88 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: a more traditional wife and mother role. She gets her 89 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:54,720 Speaker 1: teaching credentials from the University of Pacific Delta College in Stockton, 90 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: and so she starts teaching, She gets married, she has 91 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,719 Speaker 1: two kids, but then she gets divorced, which is a 92 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: really big deal as a devout Catholic and particularly from 93 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: you know, an Hispanic culture as well. And she really 94 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: started this time to chafe against those cultural expectations of 95 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: being a teacher and a wife and a mom. Not 96 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: that she didn't enjoy teaching, but she felt like it 97 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: wasn't she wasn't doing enough necessarily. Yeah, so this future 98 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 1: charismatic leader notices that the children that she's teaching, were 99 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: coming to school hungry, they didn't have shoes. And so 100 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: this is when she says, look, I love teaching, I 101 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,160 Speaker 1: love these children, but I can do more for these 102 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: families outside of the classroom as an activist. So in 103 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: the early nineteen fifties, as these early stirrings of activism 104 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: or bubbling up within her, this is happening amid her 105 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: second marriage and also getting involved with Stockton's Community Service 106 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: Organization the CSO, where she learns about grassroots community organizing 107 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: under Fred Ross, Sr. And even in interviews today, she 108 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: continually cites Fred Ross as being highly influential for the 109 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: model of organizing that she would learn and would then 110 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: apply to the United farm Workers. She alongside says are shaves, 111 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: But the things that she initially learned through the CSO 112 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: were highly gendered. There were women oriented duties that she 113 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: first took up. Yeah, And so working within this Mexican 114 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,559 Speaker 1: American Self Help Association, she worked to register voters, teach 115 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: citizenship and naturalization classes. She advocated for neighborhood improvements things 116 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: like street lights and playgrounds, and of course was tasked 117 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: with you know, setting up for meetings. And this activism 118 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: and community organizing was very gender segregated at the time 119 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: because it really wasn't socially acceptable for women in a 120 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: spec Shelly moms like Cuerta to drive around sometimes after 121 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: dart going into strangers homes because fred Ross and the 122 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: CSO model was all based around meeting people in their homes, consciousness, 123 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: raising kinds of things, talking about the day to day issues, 124 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: because fred Ross really believed the way that you enact 125 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: these bigger changes is by addressing the everyday needs of 126 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: these often impoverished communities. Yeah, and so it's at this 127 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: point when she's driving around working with people in the community, 128 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: that she starts to see how people in her community 129 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: are living. And this is a huge turning point for 130 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: her activism. This is the point in when she quits 131 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: teaching and meets up with the CSO executive director, says 132 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: our shaves, and as her activism picks up, though, her 133 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: marriage breaks down because her second husband was not really 134 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: interested in having an activist wife. She was kind of 135 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: violating a lot of her wifely expectations. So the marriage dissolves. 136 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: And as that's happening, though, in nineteen sixty Whereta found 137 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: the Agricultural Workers Association where she really focuses in on 138 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: setting up voter registration drives and lobbying local governments again 139 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:23,199 Speaker 1: for neighborhood improvements. And then two years later, Chavas and 140 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: where to join forces after Chavaz resigns from the CSO, 141 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: after the organization declines to take up the cause for 142 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: migrant farm laborers, and he's like, you know who I 143 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: need to join me? Is this Dolores Shuereta. Because by 144 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: this point she had really made a name for herself 145 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: for being completely devoted to this activism and really invested. 146 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: I mean she she had lost a marriage, she quit 147 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: her job, I mean, she was all in. And so 148 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: Chavez invites Suhereta to join him to form the United 149 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: farm Workers. Well, so, you know, we've talked about her 150 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: commune of the activism neighborhood association type things like let's 151 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: improve the neighborhood, let's get street lights out there, let's 152 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: make sure kids aren't coming to school with no shoes on. 153 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 1: So what does all of this have to do with 154 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: farm workers? Why are they forming groups like the United 155 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,679 Speaker 1: farm Workers because they hadn't been able to form groups 156 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: and organize ever before because migrant farmers have been at 157 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 1: the bottom of the societal ladder since the get go. 158 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: I mean, we could go back and just say, well, 159 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: example one, slavery and after that is outlawed. You know, 160 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: you you do have migrant farm workers almost always being 161 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: composed of recent immigrants and rarely being paid living wages, 162 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: and they're usually taking advantage of by larger agri businesses. 163 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: And embedded throughout all of this is racism because I 164 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: mean it is usually people of color coming in to 165 00:10:55,960 --> 00:11:00,839 Speaker 1: take these jobs, and white people historically saying well, you 166 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 1: don't really you know, deserve much better than this, and 167 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: this is all that you're really good for, this kind 168 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: of menial labor. Go out in the fields, pick this, harvest, 169 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: this feed us. But at the same time yelling at 170 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: those people for taking jobs and when that is the 171 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: only arena that we will shuttle them into. Yeah, PPS 172 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: did an entire series on migrant farm workers and United 173 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: farm Workers and in one of their posts wrote, whatever 174 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: group was the poorest and the most recent arrival to 175 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: this country would end up in the fields. So back 176 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: in six the National Labor Relations Act had given many 177 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 1: American workers the right to organize, but not farm workers 178 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: because the only way that the government could get this 179 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: through UH and get Southern politicians to support it was 180 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: to exclude farm workers from the ability to organize. And 181 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:55,559 Speaker 1: there had been attempts to organize and strike in the fields, 182 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 1: but really none of them had made any laughing improvements 183 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,440 Speaker 1: for the workers. Yeah. And these were and continue to 184 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: be some of the most marginalized employment groups in the 185 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 1: United States. And when it comes to the US Mexico 186 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: relationship and really how Cuerta and Chavez and in that 187 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: entire group would get involved in California starts really in 188 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: ninety two with the US Mexico Brassero program, which brings 189 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: thousands of Mexican workers into US fields in order to 190 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: make up for jobs that were left by soldiers going 191 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: to fight in World War Two. Yeah, and the program 192 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: lasted through nineteen sixty four, and the people participating in 193 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: it were routinely hand illegally taken advantage of by growers 194 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: who wanted to undercut wages and break strikes. They just 195 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: wanted to watch their own bottom line and did not 196 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:55,079 Speaker 1: care about the conditions that these workers were experiencing. Yeah. 197 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: And so when we get to the nineteen sixties and 198 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: talk about the kinds of things that Huerta was seeing 199 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,079 Speaker 1: among the people you know, who were working in these 200 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: massive farms in California. Not only did she talk a 201 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,439 Speaker 1: lot about just the emotional impact of seeing these families 202 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: living in dirt floor homes that with wall stuffed with 203 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,959 Speaker 1: newspapers for installation, there are also just horrific working conditions. 204 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:23,960 Speaker 1: I mean, on the one hand, you have them being 205 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: paid poorly, maybe seventy five cents an hour, but also 206 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: just in terms of their day to day health, the 207 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 1: death rate, for instance, of migrant laborers babies was one 208 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,559 Speaker 1: percent higher than the national average, and for adults, their 209 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,439 Speaker 1: life expectancy was just forty nine years old, which is 210 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: about twenty years below the average of the time. Not 211 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: to mention, these workers were likelier to get sick with 212 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: things like the flu, pneumonia, intuberculous as plus, I mean, 213 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: they're being exposed to horrifically poisonous pesticides day in and 214 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: day out. And one of the tactics eventually during these 215 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: strikes that would eventually happen would be for the big 216 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: farm owners, the big growers, to dump pesticides on these 217 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: protesters as they're protesting, and you might be thinking at 218 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: this point, well, why why was no one seeing this 219 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: as a problem. Why why wasn't anyone concerned about these 220 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: impoverished barrios. Basically, there were lots of racist assumptions that, well, 221 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,280 Speaker 1: you know what, these workers could pull themselves up by 222 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: their own bootstraps. But I mean they just drink away 223 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: their earnings or just generally inferior, they're not smart enough, 224 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: so I mean they're just kind of doing it to themselves. Well, 225 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: which is the stereotype that we have put on every 226 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: ethnic and social and economic minority that has been in 227 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: this country forever. And we talked about that in our 228 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: Spicy Latinos podcast about the evolution of the stereotype of 229 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: Mexican descended workers in particular or Mexican born workers as 230 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: being lazy. But it's it's amid this US Mexico Berserra 231 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: program in the nineteen fifties that Fred Ross and the 232 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: Community Service Organization in California really begin laying the groundwork 233 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,880 Speaker 1: for farm workers to be able to organize light, Kristen said, 234 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: by focusing on those everyday issues like citizenship in childcare, 235 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: because if you can't even handle the day to day, 236 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: how are you expected to rise up and fight the system. 237 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: And speaking of rising up and fighting the system, we're 238 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: next going to talk about how Dolora Suerta, stays Or 239 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: Chavas and the United farm Workers tried to do that 240 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 1: starting in the nineteen sixties. When we come right back 241 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: from a quick break and now back to the show, well, 242 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: rising up and taking on these massively influential and wealthy 243 00:15:55,640 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: agricultural growers was exactly what Dolora Squerta and Staysar Chava 244 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: has wanted to do, and it was very much a 245 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: David and Goliath kind of situation when they set out 246 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty two to start the United farm Workers. 247 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: After years of dedicated activism and community involvement, in nineteen 248 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: sixty three, Dolores where To successfully managed to secure AID 249 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 1: for Dependent Families, which is disability insurance for California farm workers. Again, 250 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: it's like she's taking sort of what she knows, working 251 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: from the ground up, working from the small to the 252 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: large with just people in her community, to sort of 253 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: doing the same thing for workers. I mean, she's not 254 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: kind of out of the gate saying let's tear apart 255 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: the entire system. She's like, can we just get them 256 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: some insurance for their families, and that was unprecedented being 257 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: able to get that insurance. But two years later, in 258 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, the Delano grape strike begins, and this 259 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: is what sort of everybody, This is the image in 260 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 1: everybody's minds when you talk about where to especially pairing 261 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: up with Chavas and so her idea though to boycott grapes. 262 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: Shadas was saying, let's let's boycott potatoes and the potato growers. 263 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: But Perta was like, we've got to market this, right. 264 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: People associate grapes and wineries and wine with California, not potatoes, 265 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: so let's do this instead. Yeah, she was like, well, 266 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: people are going to think potatoes and Idaho. So they 267 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:28,399 Speaker 1: decided to support this grape strike. And and this also 268 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: is where we get probably the most famous image of 269 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: Dolor Squerta from the time, where she is standing up 270 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 1: holding a sign above her head that says hoelga h 271 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: u e l g a, which is Spanish for strike. 272 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: And her prominent position was really influential in effectively boycotting 273 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: table grapes across the United States because as a woman, 274 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 1: she helped female consumers a long way away from California 275 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: identify with this strike as well. Yeah, and this led 276 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: to at its height the boycott being fourteen million people strong. 277 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: This was not just a little thing happening off somewhere 278 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 1: on the fringes in California. This was big national news. 279 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: And of course this is around the time that she 280 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: coins meaning yes we can and yes Obama. President Obama 281 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,719 Speaker 1: did take that phrase for his campaign. Yeah, he joked 282 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: when he was giving her the Presidential Medal of Honor 283 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven that he did steal side from 284 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: her and was really relieved that she was okay with it. Um. 285 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: But but a lot of times too, is is attributed 286 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: to Chavez. But again it was where it's brilliant idea. 287 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 1: And I want to also mentioned that we are very 288 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: much collapsing all of the nuances in the back and 289 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: forth of this strike and of this really like five 290 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: to ten year time period into these few bullet points 291 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:06,439 Speaker 1: that we have, because we don't have time to go 292 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,440 Speaker 1: into all of the back and forth, because it really 293 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: was an intense struggle and negotiation, ongoing negotiations between Huerta 294 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:20,360 Speaker 1: and Chavez and these huge growers and also other groups 295 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: of other other unionized groups being involved and not being 296 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:26,719 Speaker 1: involved in and also the California state government. I mean, 297 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: it was it was not an easy thing to tackle. 298 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: And one of the tools that these large growers used 299 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 1: at one point against the United farm Workers was to 300 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: bring in the Teamsters union to essentially try to break 301 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: up the strikes. And so in nineteen sixty six, the 302 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: United farm Workers merged with the a f l c 303 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: i O, otherwise risking erasure by the Teamsters because I 304 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: mean that group was just too powerful at the time. 305 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:01,680 Speaker 1: I mean, and and through all of these confrontations between 306 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 1: Teamsters and or the growers, they were really risking life 307 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: and limb and not just whueret and Chaves, all of 308 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:15,800 Speaker 1: these migrant farm workers who were striking standing in picket lines. Yeah, 309 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,640 Speaker 1: I mean, we already mentioned just the act of dropping 310 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 1: pesticide on these protesters, but I mean, there was so 311 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 1: much more to it. And while Chavez and Whereta did 312 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: really emphasize the issue of non violence, Chaves talks about 313 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: being inspired by Martin Luther King and Gandhi. Wuerta and 314 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:36,160 Speaker 1: others were routinely targeted and threatened at gunpoint at times, 315 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: and at one point she was even taken hostage. Yeah, 316 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,040 Speaker 1: and I mean and and two of the strikers were 317 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: killed at one point as well. Um, so this was 318 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: I mean, this wasn't just a you know, casual negotiation 319 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,159 Speaker 1: just sitting across the table from someone writing the little 320 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: you know number on a napkin and sliding it across. 321 00:20:55,880 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: It was not polite and also too um. In nineteen 322 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: sixty nine, the Dela No growers sign historic contracts with 323 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,160 Speaker 1: the uf W o C. But the agrib business scheming 324 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,879 Speaker 1: really didn't end there because then you have Seleiness led 325 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,199 Speaker 1: us growers also in California signing on again with the 326 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: Teamsters union in these kinds of sweetheart deals to edge 327 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:25,160 Speaker 1: out the United farm Workers from getting involved. And so 328 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: then what a square to do? Well, we gotta have 329 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: a lettuce boycott, that's right, And the grape growers would 330 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 1: end up pulling a similar move after their contracts expired. Uh. 331 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: And Teamster thugs were using violence against the strikers again, 332 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: and this is the point when the two farm workers 333 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,120 Speaker 1: strikers were killed on a picket line. So, like Kristen said, 334 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: I mean, things are a little tense. It's it's not 335 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 1: a good or safe situation and throughout all of this, 336 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: throughout all the violence and the tension and the underhandedness 337 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,159 Speaker 1: on the part of the growers, where to was the 338 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 1: lead negotiator. And she talks about that, she says, yeah, 339 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: I think I caught him off guard. And when she's 340 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 1: talking about the growers responding to her and having to 341 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:11,439 Speaker 1: deal with her as the negotiator, she said, yeah, you know, 342 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: not only did it catch him off guard, I think 343 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: it made them feel guilty yet to have to negotiate 344 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,320 Speaker 1: with a woman. She said that they always preferred to 345 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 1: try to negotiate with Caesar, but she was usually the 346 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 1: one because she was very skillful with negotiations, and um, 347 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:33,120 Speaker 1: it's interesting that her her gender as well was it 348 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,160 Speaker 1: was a bit of a wild card. Well, I mean, 349 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: she had such perspective to bring to the negotiating table. 350 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: So not only she personally a mother, she's been a wife, 351 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: she's you know, many children, but she has this experience 352 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: as a teacher, and she has her incredible faith driving 353 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: her forward, and her whole life experience of watching her 354 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: father in New Mexico with his activist efforts and her mother, 355 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: you know, being her own stand on her own two 356 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: feet and so this is a woman who's really not 357 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: to be trifled with, and she was just generally good 358 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: at debate period. Apparently she was really great at just 359 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: throwing down facts at the perfect time to to counter 360 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: what these growers might contend. So, if we fast forward 361 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,560 Speaker 1: to nineteen seventy five, this is a huge year because 362 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: WHERETA and the UfW were instrumental in the passage of 363 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which was the first law 364 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,919 Speaker 1: of its kind, granting California farm workers the right to 365 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: collectively organize and bargain for wages and better working conditions. 366 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: But the really interesting thing is when it comes to 367 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: unionizing and organizing, because finally in nineteen seventy five, they're 368 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: legally granted the ability to do so. Because of the 369 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: agribusiness system and the fact that a lot of these 370 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: migrant workers, by virtue of being migrant workers, they were 371 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: employed by many growers. They weren't just working with one 372 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: one big company or even like one sort of more 373 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: manageable industry. So the UfW had to kind of figure 374 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:12,120 Speaker 1: out a new way to organize beyond typical union locals, right, 375 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: And so it ended up that people at each ranch 376 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:18,920 Speaker 1: would elect their own ranch committee and then each field 377 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: off has established a service center to assist members. And 378 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,919 Speaker 1: I mean they were getting basic things like can we 379 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: have a bathroom, you know, can we have a place 380 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: to sleep that's not a shock that's in danger of 381 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: falling down at any moment that the wind blows. I 382 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,959 Speaker 1: mean they again, we're starting with just the basic needs 383 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: of these workers, just to keep them safe and healthy. Yeah. 384 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: And then as they developed this ranch committee system, Huerta 385 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 1: in the eighties was also influential in developing, for instance, 386 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: radio station for them to help all of them keep 387 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: better connected because back then, y'all they didn't have the Internet. Well, 388 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: you know, so things like a radio station we're also 389 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: really important for keeping them all informed and all organized 390 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: as well. And also if there any like union experts 391 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: and union historians listening, we welcome your input on all 392 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: of the fascinating details that I know that we are 393 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,880 Speaker 1: glossing over, because um, this isn't stuff I've never told 394 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:25,479 Speaker 1: you about um unions, because we haven't even gotten to 395 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: the point yet in which I mean what I was 396 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 1: waiting for the entire time reading a lot of this 397 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: research and listening to interviews with Puerta was like, but 398 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: what about gender, what about sexism? This is a woman 399 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,239 Speaker 1: who was kind of an unlikely spokesperson to begin with, 400 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: even though she took sort of second seat to Chavez, 401 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: as was the plan. But she was doing work and 402 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: in a position that women had never done before, hands down, 403 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: period done. And the way she easily just kind of 404 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,159 Speaker 1: cut through the water, you would think like, oh, well, 405 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,879 Speaker 1: she must not. There must not have been any barriers. Surely, 406 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: surely it wasn't that hard of a time. No, people, 407 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,400 Speaker 1: it was. It was a difficult time. And she did 408 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: talk to the l a times about the sexism that 409 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: she faced, especially because she was in a leadership position. 410 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: She says, sexism is always so painful because it comes 411 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,199 Speaker 1: from the people who were close to you. I think 412 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: sexism is much more painful for women than racism is. 413 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: Until we get majority representation, it's always going to be 414 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: hard for us. And I mean, she definitely notes that 415 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 1: Chicana and other minority women faced the triple threat of race, class, 416 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:40,200 Speaker 1: and gender discrimination. And so you know, even in times 417 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: when she wasn't facing outright massive sexism, she was still 418 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: experiencing like offhand comments from people around her and so 419 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 1: this was a very real thing that she had to overcome, 420 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,639 Speaker 1: and she certainly did and did not let it stop 421 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 1: her well. And also within her community, the kind of 422 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: sexism that she faced more often than someone at a 423 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: United farm Workers Board meeting not wanting to say listen 424 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:11,680 Speaker 1: to her, was more of a community shaming at being 425 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: a Catholic, divorce, single mom eventually of eleven, who really 426 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: didn't let motherhood stop her from traveling the country, and 427 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people accused her of being a bad mother. 428 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,439 Speaker 1: They're like, oh, how could she do that to her kids. 429 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: They don't, you know, have a stable home. They're traveling 430 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: around everywhere, they're living off of donations. I mean, she's 431 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: just failing as a mom because she was also when 432 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: she would leave by herself, she would have to have, 433 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,680 Speaker 1: you know, other family members watch after them. She wasn't 434 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: always by their side, and she essentially kind of took 435 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 1: a vowed poverty so to speak. I mean, you know, 436 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,200 Speaker 1: she lived off of donations. Her family didn't have much money. 437 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: She got paid maybe five dollars a week for her 438 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,919 Speaker 1: efforts uh to support farm workers, and in talking to 439 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: a RP to of her oldest kids admitted that the 440 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: whole thing wasn't easy. Sure, moving around being poor, having 441 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,439 Speaker 1: their mother missed their birthdays wasn't easy, and they feared 442 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,640 Speaker 1: for her life. But the lessons that they learned from 443 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: watching her go out and fight for people's lives and 444 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,920 Speaker 1: their health and their safety taught them about the importance 445 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: of helping people building a community over having material things. 446 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: And also in regard to her personal life, she caught 447 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:31,440 Speaker 1: a second wave of flak with her relationship was Sazar 448 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,680 Speaker 1: shav As his brother Richard, with whom she had children 449 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 1: and never married. But she says, basically, by that point 450 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 1: she was a feminist and she really didn't care what 451 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: people thought of her. I mean, she was so invested 452 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: in her activism as well by that point that it 453 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: sort of made no difference. And I think that she 454 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: had also lived for so many years being called a 455 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: bad mother. She was like, well, you know what, I'm 456 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: just doing me guys um. But when it comes to 457 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: feminine is um, she really didn't identify with it initially. 458 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: She talks about how when she first heard about women's lips, 459 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 1: she thought of it, it's just a white middle class phenomenon, 460 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: which very much goes to what We've talked about many 461 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 1: times on the podcast about how a lot of times, 462 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:22,840 Speaker 1: mainstream in quotes feminism has been um overly focused on 463 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: the voices and experiences of white, middle class women who 464 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: have more liberty to choose, whereas across the country in California, 465 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: you have women like Cuerta living on five dollars a 466 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: week with eleven children, fighting for the rights of women 467 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: who don't necessarily have the liberty to choose, a kind 468 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: of choice that white feminists in New York might have 469 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: been fighting for at the time, or even on the 470 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: radar of the day to day lives of these women 471 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: of color working in the fields. And her approach to 472 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: feminism was really shaped by witnessing the civil rights movement itself, 473 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 1: and she talks to PBS about how she sort of 474 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: had this moment of clarity realizing at some point that 475 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: many of us in the civil rights movement, we're out 476 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,280 Speaker 1: there fighting for our people, but we weren't fighting for 477 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: our women, and so she says, she sort of starts 478 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: to have this realization that fighting for women's rights and 479 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: being a feminist is just as important as fighting for 480 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: workers rights or the rights of people in various racial 481 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:26,959 Speaker 1: and ethnic communities. And she was also influenced too by 482 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,920 Speaker 1: her friendship with Gloria Steinham, because Steinham and others very 483 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: much supported the UfW and the boycott and the efforts 484 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: that they were making in order to help out those 485 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 1: families as well. And speaking of the UfW, I mean 486 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: she did recognize sexism within her own movement, within that 487 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 1: Chicano civil rights movement going on. Um she recalls in 488 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:57,280 Speaker 1: an interview two makers about UfW board meeting in which 489 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:03,080 Speaker 1: someone made just a casual sexist comment and she was like, huh, 490 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: I'm going to start taking a tally in this meeting 491 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: and see how many casual sexist comments are made, because 492 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,640 Speaker 1: you know, she was I think the only woman or 493 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: one of the only women in the room at the time, 494 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: and she counted up fifty eight sexist comments. So at 495 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 1: the end of the meeting, when Chaves says, okay, does 496 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 1: anybody else have anything else to add, she raises her 497 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 1: hand and says, hey, um, I counted up fifty eight 498 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: sexist comments, and I think that that's ridiculous. Essentially, I'm 499 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: very much very phraising her, but she raised awareness to it, 500 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,239 Speaker 1: and she said the next time she tallied up like 501 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: twenty three. The next time it was a dozen. And 502 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,680 Speaker 1: finally she said, it got to the point to where, yes, 503 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: the members were kind of on their toes and board 504 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,520 Speaker 1: meetings about the way that they spoke about women. And 505 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: she said, and then it once, once their awareness was raised, 506 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,440 Speaker 1: once they realized they were doing it, and then it 507 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: had a negative impact. They over time they just stopped. 508 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 1: Because the whole thing is that she's pointing out, is 509 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:07,840 Speaker 1: how ridiculous it is to have these sexist attitudes and 510 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: especially sex comments, because women were critical and should be 511 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: critical to movements like this, and she really encouraged Javas 512 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: to get more women involved in organizing, negotiating, and overseeing 513 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:24,040 Speaker 1: the ranch committees. After all, his wife Helen was involved 514 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,680 Speaker 1: in the strikes and the protests. And at the same time, 515 00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 1: she maintains that Chavez was always conscious of the importance 516 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: of women's involvement within the movement. Yeah, I mean it 517 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: was crucial to both of them to get entire families 518 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: on board. You can't do this successfully if you have 519 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 1: the husbands, but you don't have the wives and the children. 520 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 1: That's also part of the motivation for keeping everything as 521 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: nonviolent as possible. So that women and children would be 522 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:55,360 Speaker 1: welcome at those picket lines. And it's also well known 523 00:32:55,600 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 1: that sometimes Chavas and Whereta would have loud this agreements. 524 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: But where To maintains that they had a healthy working 525 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: relationship and she never felt demeaned by him by virtue 526 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: of her gender. And I mean she she found his 527 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 1: sometimes uh like almost unwitting sexism to to be laughable. 528 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: Maybe it's more just because she's looking at retrospect. Maybe 529 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 1: it was a little more infuriating at the time. But 530 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: in speaking to the l A times, she said, Caesar 531 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: once said, you know, Dolores, I treat you and Cecilia, 532 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,840 Speaker 1: who is another UfW board member, different, And I said, yes, 533 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,239 Speaker 1: it's called male chauvinism, and he started laughing. But he 534 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: was really good about having women in positions of power. 535 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: People would ask why, and he'd say, because they do 536 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: the work. And it was in doing that work in 537 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties that Wuerta was actually on the receiving 538 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: end of violence. During a protest, she was severely beaten 539 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: in San Francisco by a police officer, and this prompted 540 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 1: her to step back from union organizing for a while, 541 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,760 Speaker 1: and as a born again feminist. She says she began 542 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 1: to stump for the Feminist Majorities Project to get more 543 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 1: Latina's in office. So we really see this like crystallization 544 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: of all of her activism efforts. And when it comes 545 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,799 Speaker 1: to her legacy, I mean a lot of people routinely 546 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: ask her the question of I mean, are you a 547 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,960 Speaker 1: little jealous essentially of Caesar Chavez getting all the glory 548 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: for all of this work that you are alongside him? 549 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:28,239 Speaker 1: Uh to do are you bummed out that there's a 550 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:31,240 Speaker 1: Caesar Chaves day but not a Dolora Square today, for instance? 551 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:35,759 Speaker 1: And she pretty much just no. I mean, from the 552 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,360 Speaker 1: get go, it was decided that Chavez would be the 553 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,879 Speaker 1: spokesperson because the movement needed a face, and her face 554 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,560 Speaker 1: was also prominent as well, but he was the guy, 555 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: and when he volunteered to be the spokesperson, she said, okay, 556 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: do that. I mean, I think she was so much 557 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,239 Speaker 1: more concerned with the day to day lives of the 558 00:34:55,280 --> 00:35:00,399 Speaker 1: people that she was working on behalf of you. Never 559 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,880 Speaker 1: wanted to make herself out to be a celebrity, and 560 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,720 Speaker 1: even when she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 561 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 1: she said, this medal is given to me, on the 562 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:15,000 Speaker 1: backs of thousands and thousands of other people, I wasn't 563 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,560 Speaker 1: out in those fields working they were. Yeah, but she 564 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: was the five foot nothing spitfire who was leading all 565 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:27,479 Speaker 1: of these people into a movement. So she retired from 566 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:29,960 Speaker 1: the UfW, and a couple of years later, in two 567 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: thousand two, she found the Dolores square To Foundation to 568 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 1: promote social justice through community organizing. But it's not like 569 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:40,880 Speaker 1: she was just sitting around like kicking up her heels saying, Okay, 570 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:43,880 Speaker 1: then they're done that, I've done everything I can. That 571 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: same year that she established her foundation, she led a 572 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:52,720 Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty mile march to convince California's governor 573 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: to support legislation to benefit farm workers and it ended 574 00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,040 Speaker 1: up being a successful effort. Yeah. And she has received 575 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:04,879 Speaker 1: nume orrists, honors and awards and medals, and most recently 576 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: there was a statue of her in Chaves unveiled in 577 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:13,799 Speaker 1: Napa Valley. So she certainly isn't without her her prizes 578 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,320 Speaker 1: that that she's been given over time. Um, But really, 579 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:21,120 Speaker 1: when you listen to the most recent interviews with her, 580 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: what matters the most is continuing the work and helping 581 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,399 Speaker 1: the people and also in terms of being a born 582 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: again feminist in reminding women to own their work and 583 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,000 Speaker 1: their accomplishments and their achievements as well. So we have 584 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: some wise words from dolor s where to to end 585 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: on in which she says, we as women have to 586 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,320 Speaker 1: put big lights around our accomplishments right and around our ideas, 587 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 1: and not feel egotistical when we do that, because it's 588 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:52,799 Speaker 1: a way of letting the world know that, yes, we 589 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:57,160 Speaker 1: as women can accomplish great things. Yeah, those are wonderful 590 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:00,439 Speaker 1: words that that's such an inspiration. I just gotta terry 591 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,520 Speaker 1: just reading that. Caroline. Yeah, and she's such a fascinating 592 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: figure and and I hate that we did have to 593 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 1: gloss over so much history. But I hope that this 594 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:12,200 Speaker 1: serves as an inspiration to go learn more both about 595 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: Queerta and about the movements that she's spearheaded alongside Chavez Um. 596 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,359 Speaker 1: And so I hope that we hear from listeners who 597 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,280 Speaker 1: know more about her. We we got a very excited response, 598 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:25,360 Speaker 1: and we told people that we were doing this episode, 599 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,399 Speaker 1: and so if you have more details into into quear 600 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:33,399 Speaker 1: to herself or more insight into the movements that she lad, 601 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,759 Speaker 1: we'd love to hear them. And by the way, she's 602 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: still Boycott's table grapes, really because agribusiness and its relationship 603 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:44,840 Speaker 1: to migrant workers is not exactly improved over the years, 604 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: because those contracts always go back and forth. Yeah. Back 605 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,719 Speaker 1: when she led that one hundred and sixty five mile 606 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,439 Speaker 1: march through one hundred degree weather in California, she told 607 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 1: a reporter somebody has to do the work, and she said, 608 00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,880 Speaker 1: in organizing, you're not going to reach every person, but 609 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: you just have to keep pushing for the next one. Yeah, 610 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:07,160 Speaker 1: and this absolutely echoes our podcast on women and farming 611 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:11,600 Speaker 1: and agriculture and how even more important it is to 612 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:17,319 Speaker 1: empower those women to feed us as well. So with that, 613 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: we want to hear from you, Mom Stuff at how 614 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,320 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com is our email address. You can also 615 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,040 Speaker 1: tweet us at Mom's Stuff podcasts, or messages on Facebook. 616 00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 1: And we've got a couple of messages to share with 617 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 1: you right now. Well, I've got an older letter here 618 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:41,160 Speaker 1: from Vanessa, but I wanted to share it because Vanessa, 619 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,800 Speaker 1: in case you're listening, you should be really happy right now, 620 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 1: because she writes, I just finished listening to how teaching 621 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,840 Speaker 1: became a woman's profession, and it occurred to me, I 622 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:54,040 Speaker 1: don't think you guys have done women in the labor movement. 623 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:58,800 Speaker 1: So much great history there, the Triangle shirtwaist, factory bred 624 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:04,680 Speaker 1: and Roses mom Or Jones, Dolores Suerta, garment workers, teachers, nurses, 625 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:09,719 Speaker 1: hospitality workers, all unions driven by women s e. I 626 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,520 Speaker 1: you one of the biggest unions in the country has 627 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:15,480 Speaker 1: their very first woman president right now. You could do 628 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,000 Speaker 1: multiple episodes if you wanted, but one would be great. 629 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 1: So Vanessa, hopefully this look at Dolores Squerta's life is 630 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,280 Speaker 1: a good kickoff to focusing on more of those topics 631 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:31,480 Speaker 1: you suggested as well. And I have a letter here 632 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:35,759 Speaker 1: from Fernando that was responding to our Latina feminism episode 633 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:40,160 Speaker 1: last year. Uh, she says, after listening to that episode, 634 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:42,480 Speaker 1: I had to write you some feedback. I agree that 635 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,920 Speaker 1: Latina's face different challenges than European descendant feminists, but I 636 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,680 Speaker 1: identify strongly with feminism, though I recognize that not every 637 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,279 Speaker 1: woman in my country has it as easy as I do. 638 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:57,080 Speaker 1: In my community, I have white privilege. In Mexico, It's 639 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,680 Speaker 1: not uncommon to discriminate against tan skinned people because of 640 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:05,880 Speaker 1: their phenotypically obvious indigenous descendants. Also, I live in the city, 641 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 1: have access to education currently in med school and healthcare. 642 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,480 Speaker 1: The discrimination is far more noticeable on the mainstream media, 643 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:16,600 Speaker 1: where most of the news presenters, journalists, and musicians are 644 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,680 Speaker 1: all white and cis gender lgbt Q rights are far 645 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,360 Speaker 1: from being recognized when only in a couple of states 646 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,279 Speaker 1: gay marriage is legal, and in every state people from 647 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,920 Speaker 1: this community suffered discrimination in terms of jobs, education, and 648 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:33,799 Speaker 1: even health care access. I strive for bringing healthcare and 649 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:36,799 Speaker 1: support to those who don't possess it while being a bisexual, 650 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,239 Speaker 1: cis gender Mexican woman. I hope one day women in 651 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 1: my beloved country are able to live in freedom and 652 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:45,799 Speaker 1: that feminism also brings relief to the men who are 653 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 1: oppressed by machismo. Thanks for shining a light of education 654 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,400 Speaker 1: and humor into my everyday life. And thank you Fernanda, 655 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,360 Speaker 1: and thanks to everybody who's written into us. Mom stuff 656 00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:57,920 Speaker 1: at house stuffworks dot Com is our email address and 657 00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: for links to all of our blogs, videos, and podcast 658 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: with our sources. So you can read more about Dolores Suerta. 659 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,799 Speaker 1: Head on over to stuff Mom Never Told You dot 660 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 1: com for more on this, and thousands of other topics. 661 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:23,400 Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works? Dot com