Dolores Huerta Inspiration
Dolores Huerta has made many contributions to our society and the social work
profession. While her title is not a social worker, she presents to be one at heart.
Huerta is a union leader, civil rights activist, and lobbyist. For many years, she
worked closely with Cesar Chavez to organize farmworkers. Huerta s drive and
motivation to correct social injustice is seen in her actions and words. The reason
Huerta was selected to be have this paper written on is because the writer attended a
speech of hers in May, 2013, and found her to be a big inspiration for anybody who is
passionate about social justice. Many people have knowledge of who Cesar Chavez
is, but not as many are aware of who his partner, Dolores Huerta, is. This paper is
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Her father, Juan Fernandez, was a farm worker, miner, union activist, and a state
assemblyman (Ruiz Sanchez, 2005; Dolores Huerta Foundation, 2014). Her
mother, Alicia Chavez, was a big inspiration for Huerta and one of the primary
reasons she became a feminist (Dolores Huerta Foundation, 2014). Alicia Chavez
owned a restaurant and a 70 room hotel where she welcomed low wage workers
and their families for affordable prices. Huerta and her brother worked at the
restaurant and Huerta noticed that the poor farm workers who stayed there were
working very long hours for very little pay; she got motivated to improve their
lives (Mendoza, 2004; Ruiz Sanchez, 2005). Her mother was also an active
member in the community as she was involved in numerous civic organizations and
church activities (Garcia, 2008; Dolores Huerta Foundation, 2014). Huerta s mother
encouraged diversity and made culture a big part of her upbringing (Garcia, 2008;
Dolores Huerta Foundation, 2014) Huerta was raised in Stockton, California; an
agricultural community made up of diverse working families (Garcia, 2008; Dolores
Huerta Foundation, 2014). Through participation in various school clubs and girl
scouts, Huerta reflected her mother s activism with her involvement at Stockton
High School (Dolores Huerta Foundation, 2014). After high school, Huerta
continued her education and earned a provisional teaching credential from
University of Pacific s Delta College in Stockton (Garcia, 2008; Dolores Huerta
Foundation, 2014). Teaching did not last very long for Huerta because she was
unable to continuously see kids (mostly children of farm workers) come to school
hungry and without basic necessities, such as shoes and proper clothing (Mendoza,
2004; Garcia, 2008; Dolores Huerta Foundation, 2014). This experience sparked the
activist in her and she began working towards correcting economic injustice