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Authors

Keylla Ortega

Keywords

Dolores Huerta, CSO, labor rights, politicking, farmworkers

Abstract

When she was just in her mid- twenties, Dolores Huerta served as a board member of one of the most influential mid- century civic organizations in California, the Community Service Organization (CSO). Huerta quickly established herself as a key voice in the farmworker movement for labor rights, but she recognized early on that as a woman she had to work strategically to win votes in board meetings. She later recalled, “If I wanted to get a vote on a tough case, like to fight the police department, I had to really use . . . all of this personal kind of politicking to get them to vote my way.”1 The personal kind of politicking Huerta developed included a range of tactics, mostly notably, calling upon personal connections. She explained: “My aunt was on the board so I got her vote. My two friends, two buddies, I got them to vote. My compadre, he baptized my little son, I got him to vote for me.”2 It also included making family a central talking point in negotiations and taking on issues personally important to her constituents.

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