Emma Tenayuca

Emma Beatrice Tenayuca (December 21, 1916 – July 23, 1999) was an American labor leader, union organizer, civil rights activist, and educator. She is best known for her work organizing Mexican workers in Texas during the 1930s, particularly for leading the 1938 San Antonio pecan shellers strike. She was also known for her involvement with the U.S. Communist Party to advocate for Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

Emma Tenayuca
Born(1916-12-21)December 21, 1916
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
DiedJuly 23, 1999(1999-07-23) (aged 82)
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesLa Pasionaria de Texas
Occupation(s)Educator, labor organizer

Personal life

Tenayuca grew up in a family of 11 but began living with her grandparents at an early age in order to ease the burden on her parents.[1] She was born into a Mexican-American family, and their lineage in South Texas predated both Mexican independence and the Mexico-United States War.[2] The Tenayuca family were hit hard by the Depression, and all around her, Emma began to see the suffering of low class workers.[3]

Photograph shows the couple, Emma and Homer Brooks standing together in the Tenayuca family home.

In 1938 she married organizer Homer Bartchy who used the alias "Homer Brooks".[4] Eventually, Tenayuca went on to pursue a college degree. She divorced Brooks in 1941 and left her hometown in order to attend San Francisco State College where she majored in education. Tenayuca divorced her husband and distanced herself from communism as well after learning of Joseph Stalin’s terror regime.[5] She later earned a master's in education from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. From there she went on to teach in Harlandale School District until her retirement in 1982.

Political involvement

Was I in a state of panic or fear? No. I was pretty defiant.
[I fought] against poverty ... high infant death rates, disease
and hunger and misery. I would do the same thing again.

Emma Tenayuca[6]

In 1937, Emma Tenayuca joined the U.S. Communist Party. Although she joined the Communist Party, she did not claim to be a part of the party and she did not try to convince others to join. She joined because the Communist Party held beliefs that aligned with her own which were in support for equality and helping struggling minorities.[7] Due to major anticommunist beliefs in the United States, Tenayuca was targeted and criticized due to her affiliation to the Communist Party. Employers, churches, and other authorities created a red-baiting campaign to paint Tenayuca as a radical.[7]

Then less than a year later, she was scheduled to speak at a small Communist Party meeting at the Municipal Auditorium permitted by the San Antonio Mayor, Maury Maverick. A crowd of 5,000 attacked the auditorium with bricks and rocks "huntin' Communists." Police helped Tenayuca escape from the mob, but she was blacklisted and forced to move out of San Antonio.[8]

Still wanting to advocate for Mexican American rights, she even ran for office as a party representative for Texas in 1938. Although she never officially claimed to be a part of the Communist Party, she was still heavily associated with it due to her involvement with communist-led organizations in the labor movement and her marriage with a publicly announced communist.[7]

In 1940, Tenayuca was the Communist Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in Texas's 20th congressional district. She finished third to the Democratic and Republican candidates, winning 76 votes out of 56,447 cast.[9]

In 1946, Emma Tenayuca decided to leave the Communist Party because of disappointment.[10] One factor in particular that led to her disillusionment was the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.[10]

Labor union and political activism

She became interested in activism and was a labor activist before graduating from Brackenridge High School in San Antonio. Tenayuca's first arrest came at the age of 16, in 1933, when she joined a picket line of workers in strike against the Finck Cigar Company.[11] After high school, Tenayuca obtained a position as an elevator operator, but she continued working for human rights. Tenayuca was exposed to many hardships in her community. Often as a young child, she would go to the Plaza del Zacate (Grass Plaza), a public square where socialists and anarchists would come to speak and work with families with grievances. Many Mexican and Mexican Americans in San Antonio at the time had fled the Mexican Revolution during 1910s[12] and were excluded from the New Deal's jobs and housing programs. Additionally, Mexican Americans were facing massive deportations due to fears that they were stealing U.S. jobs and because of reduced jobs available during the Great Depression.[13]

Labor Strike of 1938

In the 1930s, San Antonio was a significant hub for the garment industry; however, the workers were subjected to deplorable working conditions, received low earnings, and were not guaranteed employment. Tenayuca was just 21 years old when the strike occurred in the community.[13] During the strike, up to 12,000 workers at over 130 plants walked off the job in protest of a salary reduction of one cent per pound of shelled pecans and terrible working conditions. Workers of Mexican and Chicano descent who picketed received clubbing, tear gas, arrests, and incarceration.[14] For the duration of the strike, Tenayuca and the employees were subjected to a variety of hardships, including violent encounters with law enforcement and company goons. Tenayuca worked tirelessly to ensure that the workers' demands were met. She organized picket lines, delivered speeches, and used her communication skills to garner support from other unions and organizations. After thirty-seven days, the strike was finally called off when the pecan operators in the city decided to participate in arbitration. The Fair Labor Standards Act increased the minimum wage to twenty-five cents an hour in October of that same year. Tenayuca was pictured and profiled in Time magazine, where the publication referred to her as "the frontline of most of its civic commotions."[15]

I was arrested a number of times.
I don't think that I felt exactly fearful.
I never thought in terms of fear.
I thought in terms of justice.[16]

Emma Tenayuca

Workers Alliance of America

Following her leadership of the 1938 demonstration against the San Antonio City Council, Tenayuca was accused of "inciting a riot" and "disturbing the peace," but the accusations were dropped for a lack of supporting documentation. Despite this setback, Tenayuca continued her activity and worked until the late 1940s for the Workers Alliance of America (WAA) and other labor unions.[4] The WAA was established in 1935 by the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) as a front organization to mobilize the unemployed, underemployed, and unskilled workers who were shut out of traditional unions during the Great Depression.[17] The organization's goal was to promote government-funded unemployment insurance, employment aid programs, and the defense of workers' rights. She gained the respect and admiration of her coworkers and the larger labor movement because of her persistence and unflinching dedication to the cause of workers' rights. Tenayuca constantly fought to organize employees and advance the objectives of the organization as a prominent and outspoken WAA member.[18]

Civil Rights Activism

Women’s League for Peace and Freedom

Emma Tenayuca was also a member of the Woman's League for Peace and Freedom (WLPF), a worldwide feminist group that was established in 1915 with the mission of advancing social justice, equality, and disarmament. In the late 1930s, shortly after the protest in San Antonio, Tenayuca became involved in the Women's Liberation Party (WLPF). In 1940, she attended the international convention of the Women's Liberation Movement for Peace (WLPF) in Washington, D.C., as a delegate, representing the San Antonio branch of the organization. Tenayuca's participation in the convention allowed her to discuss the importance of peace and disarmament amidst the hostilities of World War II.[17]

Protests against beating Mexican migrants from US Border Patrol

In 1942, while serving as the National organizer for the Workers Alliance of America, Emma Tenayuca led a demonstration in San Antonio against the US Border Patrol's brutal beating of a group of Mexican migrants. The Border Patrol personnel physically assaulted the migrants and then left them in the desert to die of their injuries. Tenayuca's outrage over the incident led her to organize the demonstration, which drew attention to the inhumane treatment of migrants at the US-Mexico border.[19] In 1944, Tenayuca again demonstrated against the Border Patrol's violent treatment of migrants. Her rally in San Antonio, attended by over 1,500 people, was a powerful condemnation of the cruel and inhumane practices of the Border Patrol. These protests reveal Tenayuca's strong commitment to fighting against injustices faced by Mexican migrants and her unwavering determination to create a more just and equal society.[7]

Plaque to honor Emma Tenayuca

Legacy

Emma Tenayuca developed Alzheimer's disease after retirement and died on July 23, 1999. Tenayuca continued to inspire activists until and beyond her death. The admiration felt for her can be seen in That's Not Fair! Emma Tenayuca's Struggle for Justice, a bilingual children's book that tells the story of her contributions to the pecan sheller strike.[20] Tenayuca's story is also seen through play-dramas written to honor her dedication and contributions. A full biography of Tenayuca's life is in the process of being written by her niece scheduled for publication in 2021.[17][21] The South Texas Civil Rights Project has dedicated an annual award, The Emma Tenayuca Award, given to individuals working to protect civil rights.[22] Tenyuca earned the nickname "La Pasionaria de Texas" (Spanish for "The Passionate One") due to her many demonstrations in the face of numerous arrests.[23] The Party of Communists USA even has a chapter named in her honor.[24]

See also

References
  1. Ayala, Elaine (August 22, 2008). "Emma Tenayuca gets her due". National Catholic Reporter. Archived from the original on January 1, 2012.
  2. Camacho, Alicia Schmidt (2008). Migrant Imaginaries: Latino Cultural Politics in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. New York and London: New York University Press. pp. 51. ISBN 9780814716489.
  3. Robinson, Chuck (March 17, 2008). "The Seeds of Struggle — ACLU Texas, Pecan Shellers Celebrate 70th Anniversary". The Lone Star Iconoclast.
  4. Carleton, Don (1985). Red Scare: Right-Wing Hysteria Fifties Fanaticism and Their Legacy in Texas. Austin, Texas: Texas Monthly Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-932012-90-6.
  5. "On One of the Great Unsung Heroes of the American Labor Movement". October 2, 2019.
  6. Vargas, Zaragosa (2005). Labor Rights are Civil Rights: Mexican American Workers in Twentieth-Century America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 114. ISBN 9780691134024.
  7. Vargas, Zaragosa (1997). "Tejana Radical: Emma Tenayuca and the San Antonio Labor Movement during the Great Depression". Pacific Historical Review. 66 (4): 553–580. doi:10.2307/3642237. ISSN 0030-8684. JSTOR 3642237.
  8. "Emma Tenayuca". SalsaNet. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  9. Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of 1940. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1940. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  10. "Emma Tenayuca (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  11. "La Pasionaria de Texas". La Voz de Aztlan. March 13, 2000. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012.
  12. "These Latinas were pioneers for workers' rights in the United States". Time. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  13. "Franklin D. Roosevelt: The American Franchise | Miller Center". millercenter.org. October 4, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  14. Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of 1940. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1940. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  15. "That's Not Fair! Emma Tenayuca's struggle for justice/¡No Es Justo!: La lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la justicia". The Zinn Education Project. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  16. Jiménez, Carlos M. (1994). The Mexican American heritage. Berkeley, Calif.: TQS Publications. p. 137. ISBN 9780892290291.
  17. Tafolla, Carmen. Letter. 2019. 'Undergrad Student Research Paper: Emma Tenayuca'. Email.
  18. "STC instructor Jennifer Clark honored by South Texas Civil Rights Project". South Texas College News. May 6, 2009.
  19. Scroggins, Deborah (2003). Emma's War (1st ed.). Leicester: Thorpe. ISBN 978-1-84395-112-4.
  20. "That's Not Fair! Emma Tenayuca's struggle for justice/¡No Es Justo!: La lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la justicia". The Zinn Education Project. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  21. Tafolla, Carmen (Winter 2019). "La Pasionaria". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 24 (2/3): 236. JSTOR 3347359.
  22. "STC instructor Jennifer Clark honored by South Texas Civil Rights Project". South Texas College News. May 6, 2009.
  23. "Labor: La Pasionaria de Texas". Time. February 28, 1938. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  24. "Districts & Clubs — Party of Communists USA". August 29, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

Further reading
  • Vargas, Zaragosa (October 28, 2007). Labor Rights Are Civil Rights : Mexican American Workers in Twentieth-Century America. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0691134024. OCLC 952775499.
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