Co-founder of United Farm Workers of America will deliver keynote address
WHAT: 20th Annual Cultural Celebration Banquet
& Scholarship Silent Auction
WHERE: Red Oak Ballroom, 2525 W. Anderson Lane (corner of
Anderson Lane and Burnet Road)
WHEN: 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, 2003
COST: $15 for CHLSA members; $20 for CHLSA guests; $55 for
others (For tickets call 512-232-1239)
AUSTIN, Texas – The Chicano/Hispanic Law Students’ Association at the University of Texas School of Law will celebrate its 20th Annual Banquet and Silent Auction on March 29 with keynote speaker Dolores C. Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and long-time advisor to the late Cesar Chavez. The cultural celebration banquet will honor the 70-year-old civil rights leader for her contributions to the Chicano movement and the Chavez legacy.
Prior to the banquet at the Red Oak Ballroom in Austin, students from UT Law will join Huerta and thousands of supporters in San Antonio for the 5th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Walk. The walk – from the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center to the Alamo – takes place just two days before the 10th anniversary of the March 31st death of Chavez. Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) union with Chavez, created the walk to spread awareness among young people about the legendary farm labor leader's messages on social justice, non-violence and self-sacrifice.
Huerta and Chavez received acclaim in 1965 for their work in Delano, California, during the “Delano Grape Strike.” In 1966, Huerta negotiated the first labor rights contract for the grape strikers. Huerta continued to serve as head negotiator of numerous contracts and conducted over 100 grievance procedures on behalf of the farm workers. As the UFW’s First Vice President Emeritus, Huerta still works to further the goals of the union she co-founded and nurtured.
In 1993, Huerta was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She is also the recipient of the Consumers’ Union Trumpeter’s Award. In 1998, she was one of three Ms. Magazine’s “Women of the Year,” and the Ladies Home Journal’s “100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century.” In 1999, she was awarded the Presidential Eleanor D. Roosevelt Human Rights Award by President Bill Clinton. Recently, she won the second annual Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.