Reception & Film: Adios Amor: The Search for Maria Moreno Saturday, October 19th, 2019 from 1-3pm
Director/Producer Laurie Coyle came across hundreds of photographs and recordings of a migrant mother organizing with her children at her side. Who was this remarkable woman? In 1959, Maria Moreno was the first female farm worker in America to be hired as a union organizer. She would often proudly say, "I'm an American citizen and I'm talking for justice."
There will be a Q&A session after the film with special guest, the filmmaker/producer Laurie Coyle. This film will be shown in English with Spanish subtitles
Synopsis of the Film: Elected by her fellow Mexican American, Filipino, Black, and Okie farm workers to represent them, Maria Moreno became the first farm worker woman in America to be hired as a union organizer through the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). From California's Central Valley to the Arizona desert and US-Mexico border, a deeply human drama comes to life, of Mexican American farm workers living in dire poverty at a time of unprecedented abundance, whose faith, family values, and working class culture sustained them. Adios Amor - The search for Maria Moreno pays tribute to the people whose hard work feeds the nation, and celebrates the courageous woman who told their story to the world. More information about the film is on the film's website.
Additional Information Relating to Maria Moreno & the AWOC
• Mi Historia - A living archive of Latina/Chicana/Hispana/Indigena stories.
• Líderes Campesinas - Honored as Nonprofit of the Year in 2019, Líderes Campesinas is a nonprofit that develops leadership among campesinas to initiate social and economic change through the farm worker community.
• My Immigrant Life - This podcast is dedicated to breaking down the stereotypes of immigrants by shedding light on their struggles, joys, and perseverance.
Library Resources & Recommended Reading
Las Obreras: Chicana Politics of Work and Family
An interdisciplinary understanding of the memory, voice, and lived experiences of Chicanas, the family, and the workplace. 305.4886 Las
Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement
Farm worker organizing history in the 1900s. Chapter 2, New opportunities, new initiatives, has information on the AWOC, teamsters and the FWA (1959-1962) CAWHC 331.881 London
So Shall Ye Reap
Chapter 3, To Build a Union, has information on the history of the AWOC. CAWHC 331.881 London
The Truths We Hold: An American Journey
The daughter of immigrants, she was raised in an Oakland, California community that cared deeply about social justice; her parents -- an economist from Jamaica and a cancer researcher from India - met as activists in the civil rights movement. B Harris
Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built A Movement
The woman in this book were innovative labor organizers. as a history of poor women workers, it shatters countless myths and assumptions about the labor movement and proposes a very different vision. 331.478 Nadasen
Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle For Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart
Journalist Liza Featherstone has followed the women and their lawyers every step o their journey, and in her explosive investigation of this historic lawsuit she brings to light not just the discriminatory practices of the worlds' largest employer, but the voices and opinions of the workers it has tried to silence. 331.4133 Feathers
Womens Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley by Patricia Zavella
A compelling picture of the Chicano women who work in Northern California's fruit and vegetable canneries in 1987. 305.43 Zavella
Speaking Truth to Power
Only after reading her moving recollection of her childhood on her family's Oklahoma farm can we fully appreciate the values that enabled her to withstand the harsh scrutiny she endured during the hearings and for years afterward. Anita Hill reflects on events before, during, and after the hearings, offering for the first time a complete account hat sheds startling new light on this watershed event. B Hill
Dolores: Rebel. Activist. Feminist. Mother
Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice, becoming won of the most defiant feminist of the twentieth century. DVD B Huerta
Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan: The Martyr Who Founded RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
A portrait of the assassinated founder of the revolutionary women's' movement in Afghanistan. B Meena
When We Were Outlaws: A memoir of Love and Revolution
A sweeping Memoir, a raw and intimate chronicle of a young activist torn between conflicting personal longings and political goals. 813.54 Cordova
In Years Gone By= En aquel entonces
An interdisciplinary anthology covering diverse aspects of the Mexican-American experience in the United States. CAWHC 973.0468 EN
500 años de historia de las chicanas SP 973.0468 Martinez