Tucked away in a corner of the National Museum of American History is Luisa Moreno’s shawl, a fascinating piece of labor history. And at least until January 1 – when current funding runs out -- you can drop by and see it.
Luisa Moreno was a Guatemala-born labor organizer, and though she was a major figure in the pre-Chicano Movement and the American labor movement, her role is often overlooked. She brought together more than 100 groups in 1938 for El Congreso de Pueblos de Habla Española, the Spanish-Speaking People’s Congress. The display at the museum features objects representing Moreno’s work as a civil rights activist and labor organizer with union pins as well as her shawl and a pamphlet to rally national attention and halt Moreno’s deportation. You’ll find Luisa – for now -- in the American Enterprise section of the National Museum of American History. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1936, auto workers began a sit-down strike for union recognition at GM’s Fisher Body plant in Cleveland. Today’s labor quote is by Luisa Moreno, from her 1940 "Caravan of Sorrow" speech, eloquently describing the lives of migrant Mexican workers. Luisa Moreno, who said: “These people are not aliens. They have contributed their endurance, sacrifices, youth and labor to the Southwest. Indirectly, they have paid more taxes than all the stockholders of California's industrialized agriculture, the sugar companies and the large cotton interests, that operate or have operated with the labor of Mexican workers.” Union City Radio is supported by Union Plus, which offers special rebates for union members shopping for a new car or truck this holiday season. Visit unionplus.org to find out more.
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