Dolores Huerta: Collaborating to Create Change

Union A group formed by people who work in the same kind of job and who want to make their job better and safer.

Source #1 Have students complete the “OBSERVE” column of the Primary Source Analysis Tool.

Source #2 Have students complete the “OBSERVE” column of the Primary Source Analysis Tool.

Source #3 Have students complete the “OBSERVE” column of the Primary Source Analysis Tool.

Source #4 Have students complete the “OBSERVE” column of the Primary Source Analysis Tool.

How long do you think it would take to fill one hamper? Source #1 How long do you think it would take to fill one hamper? How many hampers would these workers have to fill to earn one dollar? How many hours would that be to earn one dollar? www.loc.gov/item/2017773452/ Pea pickers. Wages: one cent per pound. Hamper holds about twenty eight pounds. Near Niland, Imperial County, California. February, 1939. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

What time is it in this photo? Source #2 What time is it in this photo? How long do you think this man has been working? What clues in the photo helped you figure that out? www.loc.gov/item/2017770636/ Mexican cantaloupe worker at 5:00 a.m. Imperial Valley, California. June, 1938. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

What do you think is the relationship between these women? Source #3 What do you think is the relationship between these women? Do you think they are the only people who live in this house? What clues did you use to answer these questions? www.loc.gov/item/2017813400/ Interior of house rented to Mexican workers by Michigan Sugar Company. Saginaw County, Michigan. August, 1941. Photograph by John Vachon.

What do you think this house might look like inside? Source #4 What do you think this house might look like inside? Why do you think the photographer made a point of saying that the people who live here “are not migrants”? What kind of work does she say they do? Who does that make you think of? www.loc.gov/item/2017769676/ Housing typical of that afforded Mexican field workers of the Imperial Valley. These people are not migrants, but live on the edge of the ranches and work in peas and melons. March, 1937. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

www.loc.gov/item/2017770938/ Street meeting at night in Mexican town outside of Shafter, California. Organizer for United Cannery Agricultural Packing and Allied Workers of America Congress of Industrial Organizations-CIO talks to mixed crowd. The strike failed. November, 1938. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

Strike When members of a union decide together to stop working until their jobs get better and safer. The word in Spanish for strike is huelga. Huelga is pronounced “wellgah.”

Link to webcast of poetry reading: https://www. loc Link to webcast of poetry reading: https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=7372 Go to 19:02 to see Diana Garcia reading her poem inspired by this photo. Photo: Dolores Huerta, Huelga, Delano CA Grape Strikes, September 24, 1965 by Harvey Wilson Richards ©Paul Richards http://npg.si.edu/exhibition/one-life-dolores-huerta Dolores Huerta

Writing Assignment Write two paragraphs on one of these topics. Write about a time you worked with someone else to solve a problem – either at home, at school, in your community, or in another setting. What was difficult about working with others rather than just by yourself? What was easier? What did you accomplish? How did you feel about it? Write about an issue in society that you think needs to change. Explain why you think it needs to change, and describe how you would work with others to achieve that. Write about an example you know of that is happening today of people working together to solve a problem in society. Describe what they are doing, and explain how or why you think this will help them to be successful in achieving their goal. Write a letter to Dolores Huerta about something in society that you think needs to change, and tell her how you would like to work with others to change it. Be sure to include some good questions for her! If anybody can give you good advice about how to change society, it’s Dolores Huerta.