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119th CONGRESS
1st Session |
Supporting the designation of April 10 as “Dolores Huerta Day”, in honor of the accomplishments and legacy of the trailblazing labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta.
Ms. Garcia of Texas (for herself, Ms. Barragán, Mr. Bera, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Casar, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cisneros, Mr. Correa, Mr. Costa, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Cuellar, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. García of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Green of Tennessee, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Panetta, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pou, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Rivas, Mr. Ruiz, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sánchez, Mr. Soto, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Titus, Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Underwood, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velázquez, Ms. Waters, Mr. Hernández, and Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Supporting the designation of April 10 as “Dolores Huerta Day”, in honor of the accomplishments and legacy of the trailblazing labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta.
Whereas Dolores Huerta was born on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico;
Whereas Dolores Huerta began her activism career in 1955 when she cofounded the Stockton, California, chapter of the Community Services Organization, which worked to improve voting access and economic conditions for Latinos;
Whereas, with her coorganizer César Chávez, Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association, the predecessor of the United Farm Workers’ Union, in 1962;
Whereas Dolores Huerta was the driving force behind the nationwide table grape boycotts in the late 1960s that led to a successful union contract by 1970;
Whereas Dolores Huerta helped organize the Delano strike of 5,000 grape workers in 1965 and was the lead negotiator in developing the ensuing contract;
Whereas Dolores Huerta led another consumer boycott of grapes that was instrumental in the groundbreaking enactment of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, the first law in the United States that allowed farm workers to collectively organize and bargain;
Whereas Dolores Huerta has worked tirelessly to create safer working conditions for farm workers, including eliminating harmful pesticides;
Whereas Dolores Huerta served as the voice for feminism and women’s equality within the farm workers movement;
Whereas Dolores Huerta originated the phrase “Sí Se Puede”, which became a rallying cry for the farm workers movement and against injustice everywhere;
Whereas Dolores Huerta remained committed to her principles of nonviolent civil activism, even when faced with violence at the hands of police and growers;
Whereas, in 1993, Dolores Huerta became the first Latina inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame;
Whereas Dolores Huerta worked in the latter part of her career to elect more Latinos and women to political office, and has been a champion for the rights of women and Latinos;
Whereas Dolores Huerta traversed the country for 2 years on behalf of the Feminist Majority’s Feminization of Power: 50/50 by the year 2000 Campaign encouraging Latinas to run for office, which resulted in a significant increase in the number of women representatives at the local, State, and Federal levels;
Whereas Dolores Huerta also served as National Chair of the 21st Century Party founded in 1992 on the principles that women make up 52 percent of the party’s candidates and that officers must reflect the ethnic diversity of the Nation;
Whereas Dolores Huerta has received numerous awards, including the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 1998 and in 2012 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor;
Whereas Dolores Huerta holds 9 honorary doctorates, including from Princeton University, Mills College, the University of the Pacific, and the University of Southern California;
Whereas, in 1998, Dolores Huerta was named one of the 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century by Ladies Home Journal;
Whereas, in 2003, Dolores Huerta founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation to continue her legacy of fighting for equality and civil rights, and is currently the president of this foundation; and
Whereas the United States should continue to advance the efforts of Dolores Huerta to ensure equal protection under the law and civil rights for all people of the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) supports the designation of “Dolores Huerta Day”; and
(2) honors Dolores Huerta’s legacy and contributions to advancing civil rights and equality.