Robert Liu-Trujillo - Dolores Huerta: Get to Know the Voice of Migrant Workers

Dolores is a fifth-generation American. Her great-grandfather fought in the Civil War (18611865).

Alicia ran a restaurant during the day and worked in a cannery at night. She later bought and ran a hotel. Dolores and her siblings helped their mother by cleaning and doing the laundry. Many of the hotel patrons were low-wage workers. Alicia would often let them stay for free because she knew they were struggling to get by.

Alicia encouraged Dolores to try new things. My mother was always pushing me to get involved in all these youth activities,Girl Scout.

Doloress community was made up of diverse groups of people, including Chinese, Filipino, African American, and Hispanic people. Her troop represented that. Dolores was a Girl Scout from age 8 to age 18.

Today the Girl Scouts of America offers the Dolores Huerta Girl Scout Patch. Scouts must learn about Dolores and give a presentation about her life and her work.

Dolores stayed active, joining many school clubs at Stockton High School. During this time, she began to notice that nonwhite people were treated badly. Sometimes her friends would be bothered, especially when they gathered in mixed groups. Dolores created a safe space for those friends to meet at a family friends store. She wanted them to be able to get together without being harassed.

Dolores graduated from Stockton High School in 1947.

Dolores also became aware of how little support Hispanic and African American students received. Many became frustrated and dropped out of school. The ones who stayed were discouraged from taking classes that would prepare them for college. She experienced that frustration herself when one of her teachers accused her of cheating on a test. He refused to believe she could write well.

After high school, Dolores attended college in Stockton. She wanted to be a teacher. She also married Ralph Head and had two daughters. The marriage did not last long.

Dolores began teaching elementary school in California in the early 1950s. Many of her students were the children of home life made learning very difficult.

Between 1942 and 1964, more than 4.6 million individual Bracero contracts were signed.

The Bracero Program

During World War II (19391945) Mexico and the United States started the Bracero Program. Mexican men were invited to sign short-term contracts to work in the United States, mostly for agricultural jobs. The program was meant to be temporary, to fill labor shortages caused by American men going off to war. But it lasted much longer than that.

Employers were supposed to pay fair wages and provide good housing and food, insurance, and transportation back to Mexico. They were also not supposed to be able to work as strikebreakers. But often these rules were ignored. The growers increased their profits while ignoring strikers and keeping their labor costs as low as possible.

Dolores tried to get food for her students so they could eat. She tried to get clothing vouchers so they could have decent shoes. But the principal didnt believe the students deserved help.

Dolores knew that wasnt true. She had been around She decided she needed to help the parents to help the children.

Farm labor laws do not always protect agricultural workers. For example, overtime pay, minimum wage, and health and disability insurance are not always guaranteed. Workers also may face consequences for joining a union.

Working the Fields

farm workers were under 18 years old.

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THE REAL WORK BEGINS