Emma Beatrice Tenayuca was born on December 21, 1916, in San Antonio, Texas. It showed that one person, no matter how small, can make a difference. It welcomed people of all races and supported Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. The group promoted assimilation with mainstream white American society, something with which Emma strongly disagreed. Tafolla says Tenayuca's achievements helped to transform Texas politics and Texas society, long before Martin Luther King, Jr., Dolores Huerta or Cesar Chavez. I scribbled on white legal pad names like Emma Tenayuca, Luisa Capetillo, Lupe Marshall, and Luisa Moreno. She was the oldest of her parents’ eleven children. This was during the Great Depression era and when Jim Crow laws were enforced with a heavy hand. Afterward, the police chief declared, "the Tenayuca woman is a paid agitator sent here to stir up trouble among the ignorant Mexican workers. In 1935, Tenayuca became a member of the Young Communist League. Emma Tenayuca was a labor activist in Texas during the 1930’s, best known for her passionate speeches. She was arrested for the first time at a strike when she was 16. Emma Tenayuca never worked again as a labor organizer. The pair divorced in 1941. Today, The South Texas Civil Rights Project has a dedicated annual award in her name, which is given to individuals striving to protect civil rights. In 1938, she became a lead organizer during a strike by pecan shellers, the largest such action in the history of her hometown of San Antonio, Texas. New-York Historical Society Library. The Crew Members Who Died in the Challenger Explosion . Emma was against meeting in such a public place. Tenayuca was one of 11 children and the oldest daughter of Sam Tenayuca and Benita Hernandez Zepeda. Having to leave San Antonio because of death threats, she lived in Houston briefly, then moved to San Francisco, thereafter returning to San Antonio. Engraving. He served two years in the United States Navy, hoping to learn skills to help his community; but in those days, Mexican Americans were relegated to cooking and painting. With her family and neighbors strongly affected by the privations of the Great Depression, she joined labor protests on behalf of the working poor. Part I can be found here . Following a violent clash that broke out when she and other Communists were meeting in San Antonio in 1939, Tenayuca could not find work under her own name in Texas. Rather, divisions existed based on economic status, skin tone, and heritage. She retired in 1982 and died in 1999. She retired from teaching in 1982. By 1937, she was on their executive committee. The strike was documented in newspapers nationwide. Through their combined efforts, both Emma and Homer rose in the party. Emma Beatrice Tenayuca was born on December 21, 1916, in San Antonio, Texas. She began a teaching career, which she continued after returning to San Antonio in 1968. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Sarah Atwood Yale. It was a small victory but it gave the community hope and was a step forward in the struggle for equality. Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice, published by Wings Press. At the wake for Emma, the Tenuyca family invited Maria Antonietta Berriozdbal to lead the community in praying the rosary, that the voices of her family and … Emma often noticed that her parents saw the world differently. Half of the pecan facilities were around San Antonio. As the little girl learned more about the harsh realities around her, she was inspired and determined to transform that world into something better. THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES Oral History Office. A Catholic newspaper proclaimed, "In the midst of this community exists a woman by the name of Emma Tenayuca who wants to spread disorder and hatred…. Emma took on a leadership role in the strike through her work with the Workers Alliance of America. She departed Texas for California in the mid-1940s. New-York Historical Society. Emma Tenayuca Emma Tenayuca (1916-1999) was a labor organizer, activist and writer most known for her leadership in the 1938 Pecan Shellers Strike in San Antonio. In 1974, she received a master's degree in education from San Antonio's Our Lady of the Lake University. Inside, Emma and Homer opened the meeting by singing the national anthem. THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES Oral History Office. Top Answer. François (Franz) Fleischbein (artist), Portrait of Betsy, 1837. Once she graduated from high school, Tenayuca worked as a door-to-door saleswoman, washed jars in a pickle factory and worked as an elevator operator, while also focusing on organizing and activism. Emma moved to California in 1945 and ended her membership in the Communist Party shortly after that. He fought in the War of 1812 and died at the Alamo in the Texas Revolution. She spoke on behalf of the strikers and rallied workers on picket lines. They appeared in public together and co-wrote essays. She retired in 1982. Institute of Texan Cultures. Tenayuca's communist beliefs ostracized her from parts of her community. Emma Tatham died in 1855. She died on July 23, 1999, at 83, receiving many tributes from the city that once shunned her. Emma Tenayuca was an organizer and activist who fought for civil and labor rights for Mexican and Mexican American workers in San Antonio, Texas, in… View More Emma Tenayuca. Having to leave San Antonio because of death threats, she lived in Houston briefly, then moved to San Francisco, thereafter returning to San Antonio. The strikers faced strong opposition. Her close relationship with a grandfather who read the newspapers with her and took her to rallies for the rights of the poor fed the young girls profound hunger for both learning and social justice. SUBJECT: Union movement, S.A., 1930s INTERVIEW WITH: Emma Tenayuca DATE: February 21, 1987 PLACE: Her home in San Antonio She was as stingy with love as she was with money, and saved her greatest affection for the San Antonio Spurs, hats with sparkly rhinestones, and anything that could be categorized as a good deal. Emma Ihrer died in 1911. Emma Tenayuca, labor leader, teacher, intellectual, and activist, died on July 23, 1999, in San Antonio, Texas. Emma Tenayuca led the way during the violent strike that received national and international attention. What has the author Emma Ellwood Miller written? See a Timeline of the US-Mexico Border. It showed that one person, no matter how small, can make a difference. 0 1 2. We are so lucky that this is changing, if slowly. Born in 1916 in San Antonio, Texas, Emma Tenayuca lived at a time when Mexican-Americans were allowed few freedoms and fewer privileges. ", A high school reading group with a curriculum that included Thomas Paine and Karl Marx, along with the privations she witnessed during the Great Depression, were additional galvanizing forces in Tenayuca's organizing career. Emma died on July 23, 1999 in San Antonio. They were active registered voters who educated their granddaughter about the dangers of the Ku Klux Klan. She was the oldest of her parents’ eleven children. Emma is part of a long history of female labor leaders. She later earned a master’s in education from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. Pecan shellers, who were mostly women, suffered higher rates of tuberculosis and blamed their poor health on the work conditions. How did that attention shape her life? They also favored organized labor and supported FDR’s policies supporting workers. is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Mexico.In the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology, Tenayuca was a settlement on the former shoreline of the western arm of Lake Texcoco.It was located approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the northwest of Tenochtitlan (the heart of present-day Mexico … Mary Church Terrell was a writer, educator and activist for civil rights and women's suffrage. Tenayuca did not remain a member of the Communist Party for long, formally leaving in 1946. Her application to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Corps during World War II was rejected, presumably due to her membership. When did Emma Ihrer die? (Her family's surname has also been spelled as Teneyuca.) Her image--striding in front of a line of marchers or standing at a microphone shaking her fist as she stirred the strikers to struggle on--inspires the Tenayuca died in 1999, at 83. One of the largest groups in need of help was the pecan shellers union. She was a San Antonio native and graduated, M.Ed., from Our Lady Of The Lake University. Emma Beatrice Tenayuca was born on December 21, 1916, in San Antonio, Texas. In 2008, her niece Sharyll Tenayuca co-authored That's Not Fair! Gertrude Kasebier (photographer), Zitkala Sa, Sioux Indian and activist, c. 1898. What were some of her key ideals? Her father's side of the family traced its heritage from Native Americans, while her mother's family had descended from Spanish settlers. Because of their influence, Emma paid attention to the world. Life Story: Emma Tenayuca (1916–1999) Emma Tenayuca was born on December 21, 1916 in San Antonio, Texas. Emma Tenayuca was a labor organizer, activist, and teacher who was born in 1916 and died in 1999. As the Great Depression continued in the 1930s, Tenayuca used her roles in organizations like the West Side Unemployed Council and the Workers Alliance of America to push for better treatment for Mexican Americans who were not receiving equitable access to Works Progress Administration resources. https://www.biography.com/activist/emma-tenayuca. Other leaders of the strike asked Emma to step out of the spotlight. Growing up on the U.S.-side of the Texas-Mexico border, Tenayuca connected capitalism, citizenship, and Jim Crow segregation, which targeted both Black and Mexican people. Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice, published by Wings Press. She was frustrated that the organization represented the same divides she witnessed at home. Why did Emma exile herself from high-profile political action? Emma’s mother’s family traced their heritage to Spanish colonizers who owned land in East Texas for generations. 6-29-37." Her work contributed to a positive outcome. "We became aware that there were some aspects of the free enterprise system which were highly vulnerable.". Compare her life story with those of, The Communist Party was a growing presence in 1920s–1930s America. Emma’s maternal grandparents encouraged her to take an interest in politics. A young Tenayuca joined the women's auxiliary of the League of United Latin American Citizens in 1932 but left due to her disagreement with the group's policy of standing apart from those born outside the United States. She raised him as a single mother. San Antonio native Emma Tenayuca was a pioneering activist involved with issues that resemble those of modern times: disparity of rich and poor, and substandard wages and working conditions of laborers and migrant workers. Connect Emma’s story to that of other women activists associated with the Communist Party, including, Emma witnessed firsthand the complications of Mexican American life in Texas. "It's kind of like an incredible mixture of this unstoppable force … (Her family’s surname has also been spelled as Teneyuca.) (Her family’s surname has also been spelled as Teneyuca.) The party’s leaders argued that the New Deal provided necessary regulations and protections for hard-working Americans. But Homer did not want to back down. Her ancestors had lived on the land that would come to be known as San Antonio since 1685. Emma Ihrer died in 1911. She kept on speaking about what she believed in and didn’t care what people said or did. In her formative years Tenayuca followed election politics of the U.S. and Mexico. Described by one professor as “a woman people attempted to write out of history,” the sixteen-year-old Mexican American labor activist was arrested for striking against San Antonio’s Finck Cigar Company in 1933. Tenayuca, Emma (21 December 1916–23 July 1999), labor organizer, community activist, school teacher, was born in San Antonio, Texas, the first daughter of eleven children born to Sam Tenayuca and Benita Hernandez Zepeda. Her family's financial hardships forced her to leave school and work in a factory; her first job in America was as a seamstress in a clothing factory. (d. 1999) Person. The strike was documented in newspapers nationwide. She occasionally participated in Communist Party activities on a smaller scale. Why was Emma drawn to the Communist Party? Tenayuca married Homer Brooks, a leader in the Communist Party of Texas, in October 1937. Her efforts helped establish local branches of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. She was arrested during a protest in 1933, at just 16 years old. A prominent figure in the labor movement of the mid-1930s was Emma Tenayuca of San Antonio. In this role, she organized strikes, letter-writing campaigns, and other protests. Emma Tenayuca died in 1999. she was born in San Anonio in December,21,1961 He later called those years the worst time of his life. She was a San Antonio native and graduated, M.Ed., from Our Lady Of The Lake University. They had a permit from the mayor, who stated the Communist Party had the right to assemble in a public building. Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. Tell us your opinion below. Emma Tenayuca led the way during the violent strike that received national and international attention. Emma fled San Antonio for Houston, where she worked in a series of office jobs to make money. In the mid-1930s, the Communist Party took a new political position as popular opinion began to turn vehemently against the party. in South Bexar County until her retirement in 1982. Tenacious labor leader and educator Emma Tenayuca was born in San Antonio in 1916. We strive for accuracy and fairness. She believed there had to be another way. A piece that Tenayuca co-authored with then-husband Homer Brooks, "The Mexican Question in the Southwest," was published in The Communist in March 1939. He did not go to school past the eighth grade. Emma Beatrice Tenayuca was born on December 21, 1916, in San Antonio, Texas. 7. Emma’s maternal grandparents encouraged her to take an interest in politics. Anti-Communists destroyed the room and held an “Americanism” rally, during which they denounced all Communists and the mayor, whom they burned in effigy. December 21, 1916: Emma Tenayuca is born in San Antonio, Texas: 1924: The U.S. Border Patrol is created. In 1942, Emma applied to serve in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. In 1938 she married organizer Homer Bartchy who used the alias "Homer Brooks." This article first appeared in the American Postal Workers Magazine, Pecan Shellers’ Strike … Davy Crockett was a frontiersman, legendary folk hero and three-time Congressman. Terrell was born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents, both former slaves, were small business owners, and her father was the South's first African-American millionaire. Or did Emma Tenayuca do steroids, coke or even stronger drugs such as heroin? no. Maria and Emma Maria and Emma Berriozabal, Maria Antonietta 2004-01-08 00:00:00 María and Emma mari a antonietta berriozabal ´ ´ Emma Tenayuca, labor leader, teacher, intellectual, and activist, died on July 23, 1999, in San Antonio, Texas. Emma was moved by their demand for justice and joined the picket line. The strike lasted three months, and the number of strikers and supporters reached 12,000. The 37-day pecan shellers strike involved as many as 6,000 workers, largely Hispanic, and is regarded as the first labor victory for Tejanos and Mexicans in U.S. history. The attendees, including Homer and Emma, escaped through a secret passage under the building. Emma’s father’s family was descended from the Native people of the region. It was this historical background and my grandparents’ attitude which formed my ideas and actually gave me that courage to undertake the type of work I did in San Antonio.". Through her work as an educator, speaker, and labor organizer, she became known as “La Pasionaria de Texas.” From 1934-48, she supported almost every strike in the city, writing leaflets, visiting homes of … By Kevin Lentz Editor’s Note: This is Part III of a three part series on the life and times of Emma Tenayuca. She heard activists speaking in San Antonio’s public squares, read Spanish-language newspapers, and took notice when more and more workers lost their jobs in the wake of the economic depression. In Houston she took jobs under the pseudonym "Beatrice Giraud." Emma Tenayuca was a Texas labor organizer who was born on Dec. 21, 1921, in San Antonio. Civil rights leader James Farmer headed the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and organized the historic Freedom Rides of 1961. Tenayuca was one of 11 children and the oldest daughter of Sam Tenayuca and Benita Hernandez Zepeda. 2014-04-29 19:05:24. She later stated, "I carried an Indian name. It was a small victory but it gave the community hope and was a step forward in the struggle for equality. Conditions in pecan shelling factories were horrifying. After this event, Tenayuca was sent death threats and was unable to find work under her own name. Her name is Emma Tenayuca and history is just now starting to give her the credit she deserves. Tenayuca returned to San Antonio in 1968. The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. Her application was denied. Emma Ellwood Miller has written: 'Verses to family and friends' Who was Emma Tenayuca?-21 years old-Organized 1938 Pecan Shellers Strike in San Antonio ... she did not run for reelection. But the industry invested in more machines a few years later and many workers lost their jobs. Grandma Rose, aka Texas Rose, was mean until the day she died. She also protested beatings conducted by border patrol officers and the deportation of Mexican American citizens. From there she went on to teach in Harlandale School District until her retirement in 1982. IMAGE COURTESY UTSA LIBRARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AT ITC. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. She has become a role model for many Mexican American women since because of her important labor organizing work and her fearlessness. Blacklisted, Emma Tenayuca was run out of San Antonio. Emma eventually took on the role of chairperson of the Texas State Committee of the Communist Party. They were both registered voters who debated local and state politics at home. Tenayuca died on July 23, 1999, after developing Alzheimer’s disease, and was buried at Mission Burial Park in San Antonio. She was arrested for the first time at age 16 after joining a picket line of workers striking against the Finck Cigar Company. Smithsonian Institute Archives Image # SIA 2010-1509. 1 of 2. Emma Tenayuca was born into a large Commanche family whose residence in South Texas predated both Mexican independence and the Mexico-U.S. War. Emma Tenayuca, leader of the Pecan-Shellers’ Strike of 1938 | Photo Courtesy of The Institute of Texan Cultures. Her reverence in the community is reflected by her nickname “La Pasionaria”. See Answer. Emma Tenayuca, leader of the Pecan-Shellers’ Strike of 1938 | Photo Courtesy of The Institute of Texan Cultures. The Tejano community honored her and described her “La Pasionaria de Texas”—the passionflower of Texas. How did she continue to be involved? [She] is not a Mexican; she is a Russofile, [sic] sold out to Russia, communist.". Courtesy, UTSA Special Collections. Sarah Atwood Yale (maker), “I march against…” embroidered sign carried at Women’s March on Chicago, 2017. Prior to her death, she'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Shortly after retirement, Emma Tenayuca developed Alzheimer’s disease and died on July 23, 1999, at the age of 82. Emma Tenayuca, labor leader, teacher, intellectual, and activist, died on July 23, 1999, in San Antonio, Texas. Communist Russia recently aligned with Nazi Germany, increasing anti-Communist attitudes in the United States. However, being a Communist Party member would have lasting consequences. 249 years later, Tenayuca graduated from Brackenridge High School in 1934. What does it say about gender and the status of women in political movements? She mentored students who expressed an interest in activism and encouraged them to study American labor history. eventually retired in 1982 and died July 23, 1999. Her grandfather also contributed to Tenayuca's political awakening by taking her to a local plaza where she could hear political speeches, and by reminding her that their family's Catholic faith required her to aid the poor and downtrodden. Over 1,000 strikers were arrested during the three-month strike. The article and bibliography were prepared by R. Matt Abigail and Jazmin León for the Texas State Historical Association, the Handbook of Texas Online . ACTIVISM, GREAT DEPRESSION, IMMIGRATION, LATINX EXPERIENCES, LAW & LEGAL STATUS, NEW DEAL, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT, ORGANIZED LABOR, RACE & RACISM, SOCIAL REFORM, WORK, RED SCARE, Major support for Women & the American Story provided by, Lead support for New-York Historical’s teacher programs provided by. Tenayuca took part in her first strike with workers from the Finck Cigar Company. Emma Tenayuca standing by a jail cell. December 21, 1916: Emma Tenayuca is born in San Antonio, Texas: 1924: The U.S. Border Patrol is created. Growing up, Tenayuca saw some relatives' disdain for her "Indio" father. Part II can be found here . In the days that followed, Emma received many death threats. But the meeting room was empty. Emma Tenayuca in Bexar County Jail, June 29, 1937. She chaired the Communist Party of Texas in 1939 and ran for Congress as a Communist in 1938 and '40. Emma Tenayuca was born in San Antonio, Texas on Dec. 21, 1916. Courtesy, UTSA Special Collections. 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