October 06, 2014

Media Availability – Dolores Huerta

Latino civil rights activist Dolores Huerta will be available for interviews with reporters, photographers and news crews on Tuesday, Oct. 7, in the boardroom of the Holiday Inn Carbondale, 2300 Reed Station Parkway. The media availability is at 10:30 a.m. 

Later, Huerta will present a lecture at 6 p.m. in Shryock Auditorium. She is the keynote speaker for the university’s 2014 Hispanic Heritage Month celebration that runs through Thursday, Oct. 9. 

The Paul Simon Public Policy is among the groups hosting Huerta. Delio Calzolari, institute associate director, will serve as moderator. In addition, Edith Ortiz-Ruiz, president of SIU Carbondale’s Latino Cultural Association, is also expected to attend. 

Huerta is a 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; the award is the highest civilian U.S. award.  Born in a small mountain mining town in New Mexico where her father was a union activist who went on to serve in the state legislature, Huerta would become a teacher and later organizer and activist in fights against economic injustice.  

Huerta teamed with César Chávez to create the National Farm Workers Association, later the United Farm Workers Union, and fought to end gender discrimination. She is the founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and continues to work on behalf of social justice, civil rights and equality.  Her awards and achievements include selection as one of the “100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century” by Ladies Home Journal magazine. There are six schools in California, Texas and Colorado named in her honor.