Dolores Huerta, social activist and co-founder of United Farm Workers who worked alongside Cesar Chavez, will speak at McKenna Hall on Tuesday, according to a University press release.
Her lecture is a part of the Institute for Latino Studies’ Transformative Latino Leadership Series. Huertes is known for her social advocacy, specifically for the rights for farm workers, women’s rights and the poor, and is known for coining the rallying phrase “Si, se puede.” She is famous for leading the boycott against California grapes, which resulted in a victory for the farm workers and was the first national boycott of its kind. This boycott led to the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, when farm worker rights fused together with student and community activism.
In 1998, Huerta received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Bill Clinton and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 from President Barack Obama.
This same lecture series has hosted U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro and Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles. According to their website, the Institute for Latino Studies aims to prepare transformative leaders in various academic and social spheres among Latinos and all members of society. This particular lectures series “links Notre Dame with the ‘who’s-who’ of Latino leaders in the United States.”
Huerta’s speech will include a conversation moderated by Luis Fraga, director of the Institute for Latino Studies. The lecture is free and open to the public.
