Huerta has played a major role in the American civil rights movement. As a founding member of the Community Service Organization, she helped battle segregation and police brutality. She also was instrumental in the passage of legislation allowing farm workers the right to vote and to take driver's exams in Spanish.
In 1962, Huerta joined Cesar Chavez in forming what became the United Farm Workers Union. Together they founded the Robert F. Kennedy Medical Plan, the Juan De La Cruz Farm Worker Pension Fund and the Farm Workers Credit Union. They also formed the National Farm Workers Service Center Inc., a community-based affordable housing and Spanish-language radio communications organization. Over the years, Huerta has helped organize farm workers, boycotts and strikes and educated legislators about the inadequate living conditions, poor health and the extreme poverty level of many farm laborers.
Among her honors, Huerta received the Outstanding Labor Leader Award from the California State Senate, the American Civil Liberties Union's Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award and the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom. She also has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, was featured as one of the “100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century” by the Ladies Home Journal.
The lecture is sponsored by UD's Latino and Latin American Heritage Office and the Office of Affirmative Action and Multicultural Programs in conjunction with the Office of Human Resources, the Office of Women's Affairs, Women's Studies the Campus Alliance de la Raza and HOLA.
