October 14, 2016 Hello , I'm back from Italy and diving into revisions of my upcoming book on African American army women in WWII. Also
gearing up for the launch of FANNIE NEVER FLINCHED, a mere two-and-a-half weeks away!
Reviews are coming in with amazing news--a third starred review! This one from School Library
Journal. See more below in the news section.
Before Cesar Chavez and the grapes boycott there was Emma Tenayuca and the pecan
strike.
"I Never Thought in Terms of Fear... |
Emma was sixteen when she first went to jail, arrested for joining a labor strike by San Antonio cigar workers in 1932.
Emma
picked up her social activist ideas at her grandfather's knee, going with him to the La Plaza del Zacate, the center of activity for Mexican American families in West San Antonio.
Children could get an ice cream. Jobless families might be hired to pick cotton or work in the beet fields. Stories went round. You could hear the
latest news from Mexico read aloud,
preaching from the bible and fiery political speeches.
I Thought in Terms of Justice" |
Seeing police bully picketers during the cigar makers' strike, propelled Emma to keep on working
for the rights of the poor, a fight that would nearly cost her her life.
She soon became well-known in San Antonio after leading several marches, demonstrations and sit-ins.
Emma campaigned for a minimum wage, and took up the causes of unfair allotment of New Deal public works jobs, discriminatory removal of Mexican American families from WPA relief roles, and illegal deportations of U. S. citizens of Mexican descent.
When some 12,000 pecan shellers walked off the job to protest a wage cut, they converged on a local park shouting "Emma! Emma!" and chose her to lead their strike. She was 21.
Pecan-shelling was a major industry in the region and one of the lowest-paid in the country. Workers, mostly Hispanic women, typically earned between two and three dollars a week. Work areas were badly ventilated
and poorly lit without indoor plumbing. San Antonio law enforcement met peaceful picketers swinging clubs, hurling tear gas canisters and making mass arrests. Seven hundred strikers were arrested one day, under orders from
the chief of police who stated the strike was a "Red plot" to gain control of the West Side of San Antonio.
At that point, the union removed Emma as an official leader of the strike, fearing her ties to the Communist Party would hurt the cause. The strike, one of the largest in the nation, continued for three months until pecan producers agreed to pay the
minimum wage set by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Emma Tenayuca was blacklisted for being a communist in the 1930s, and still today, she is not considered a heroine by some people for the same reason. Yet, she was
deeply concerned about many of the same issues that trouble us today, the disparity between the rich and the poor, discrimination against people of color and fear of immigrants.
Emma courageously went to jail a number of times for her beliefs, saying, "I never thought in terms of fear, I thought in terms of justice."
Some months after the pecan strike settled, Emma planned to speak at a Communist Party meeting at the city's auditorium. A crowd of 5000 anti-communists gathered to protest and as they stormed the building with bricks and stones, police guided Emma to through a secret underground tunnel.
The rioters, including members of the Ku Klux Klan went on
to burn the city mayor in effigy for permitting Emma the right to free speech. Fearing she'd be lynched, Emma left for Houston and later California, unable to return to her hometown for twenty years.
Writer Carmen Tafolla wrote of Emma:
"La Pasionaria, we
called her, because she was our passion, because she was our heart -- defendiendo a los pobres, speaking out at a time when neither Mexicans nor women were expected to speak at all." Thanks to those of you sighting Irena's Children in the wild and sending pictures! I was thrilled to get this one from Lois Bradley showing the book in Costco next to J.K. Rowling's new
book.
I'm also appreciative of the reviews. Thank you Joanne Cesar for posting, "This book should be mandatory reading for everyone!....I was quickly entranced and read it in a day. I think it also has a lesson we all need to be refreshed on, the horrific atrocities we do to those who are different from us."
Coming home from vacation and getting back to work was a little sweeter due to the review from School Library Journal. It began with a star and ended with the verdict: "An essential purchase for public or large school libraries interested in workers’ rights and social
justice."
Thanks for you support!
I will never spam you or sell your email address, you can unsubscribe below anytime with a single mouse click. To find out more about my books, how I help students, teacher and librarians, visit my website at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com. My best, Mary
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