Dolores Huerta: Soldadera for the Farmworkers Movement

Dolores Huerta was the co-founder of the union that became known as the UFW.  Everyone talks about Cesar Chavez, but without her there would be no union.  She was a dedicated and fierce community activist.  She dedicated her life to protecting the rights of farmworkers, women, and immigrants. She grew up in Stockton, California – in a world where agricultural workers were cheated, mistreated, and exploited.  The working conditions and standards of living were well below poverty level.   In 1960, Cesar called her up.  He needed her.  He said, “We’ve got to start the union.  If we don’t do it. No one else will.”  It was Dolores that came up with the slogan, “Si Se Puede!”

In the early seventies Dolores was at the forefront of the Coachella Grape Boycott.  She lived in Coachella.  She kept an office in Indio. Her efforts to protect and organize farmworkers were beginning to pay off. There were now water jugs, work breaks, bathrooms where none had ever been before. Women were placed in higher-paying jobs.  Young people were given opportunities for training and advancement. But that was before the Teamsters came to town.  They threatened UFW strikers with violence. These Teamsters were big guys.  They were thugs.  Criminals with tattoos, heavy biker boots, and sticks!  They would beat on anyone who looked remotely connected to the UFW.    In the Spring of 1972, Coachella became a war zone. It was the UFW against the Teamsters. Dolores and Cesar had to find a way to keep the peace and advance the cause.

I found two books that will help me shape my essay:

* A Dolores Huerta Reader by Mario T. Garcia. It’s a collection of essays written about Dolores Huerta.  The voices included in this book are from friends, family, journalists, professors, historians, and farmworkers.  The book begins with Dolores’ early childhood.  It ends with her continuing fight for human rights.

 * The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmwokers Movement by Susan Ferris and Ricardo Sandoval. This book doesn’t mention Dolores on the cover, but there is plenty of Dolores inside on the pages.  At one point, they made a PBS documentary based on the book.  I could go to Youtube and see clips. 

Whenever we talk about great civil rights leaders we talk about Cesar Chavez, but we don’t speak about Dolores Huerta.  She was very tough, competitive and independent woman.  Because of that, she intimidated many of the men she tried to lead.  Because Cesar was a man, most farmworkers looked to him for direction.  But that doesn’t mean Dolores wasn’t a critical part of the union.  She was a skilled negotiator.  Cesar might have been in front of the cameras, but Dolores was always in front at the table in union negotiations with the growers.  She did the dirty work.

The story of Dolores Huerta is the story of a fighter.  In fact, she is often called la Pasionaria.  The passionate one.  She must be 85 years old, and she is still working for the causa.  I read somewhere that during the Mexican Revolution, there were a group of women soldiers that followed Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa into battle.  They were fierce woman warriors. The people called them Soldaderas.  This might be a good title for my research paper:  Dolores Huerta: Soldadera for the Farmworkers Movement.