Women's History Month: Dolores Huerta
By Elizabeth Martinez
Women's History Month is from March 1st to March 31st. Women's History Month began as a national celebration in 1981 when congress passed the Pub. L, which authorized the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7th, 1982, to Women's History Week. Throughout the next five years, congress continued to pass Pub L and designated the month of March as Women's History Month. These publications allowed the American public to see how women had shaped American history. For many more years to come, America will continue to see how women have shaped American history.
Dolores Clara Fernandez was born on April 10th, in Dawson, New Mexico. Dolores’s parents had a major impact on her. Dolores's father worked as a farm worker and miner by trade. He was a union activist that ran for political office and won a seat in the New Mexico Legislature in 1938. Dolores's mother, Alicia, was a big influence on Dolores's life as she was brought up with a lot of cultural diversity. Dolores’s mother Alicia was very active in her community, which influenced Dolores’s involvement as a student at Stockton High School. She was in many school clubs as a majorette a member of the Girl Scouts until the age of 18. Dolores studied at the University of Pacific’s Delta College in Stockton and earned a provisional teaching credential. During this time period, Dolores married Ralph Head and had two daughters, Celeste and Lori. Dolores was serving in the leadership of the Stockton Community Service Organizer when she found her calling. During this time period, she founded the Agricultural Workers association; she set up voter registration drives and pressed the local government for barrio improvements. Dolores worked alongside Cesar E. Chavez. They both launched the National Farm Workers Association in the spring of 1982. Dolores's first course of action was securing aid for dependent families and disability insurance for farm workers in the state of California in 1963. She was also the face behind The Enactment of the Agricultural Labor Relations Acts of 1975. The Labor Relation Act was the first law in the United States granting Farm Workers in California the right to collectively organize for better wages and working conditions.