MOUNT VERNON — Dolores Huerta, co-founder and secretary-treasurer of the United Farm Workers of America, headlines a new Cornell College lecture series, “Community, Agency and Action: Social Change in the New Century,” featuring four speakers Nov. 8 through April 2001.
The lecture series examines social activism and provides practical lessons about dedicating a life to social change. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Huerta, speaking April 29, 2001, in King Chapel, will be the fourth lecturer in the series. Almost 40 years after she and Cesar Chavez formed the National Farm Workers Association (predecessor to the United Farm Workers of America), Huerta continues to lobby for the rights of farm workers and women. During the 1970s, as the UFW was organizing grape workers and workers in the vegetable industry, violence erupted and farm workers were killed. Huerta directed the East Coast boycott of grapes, lettuce and Gallo wines that resulted in the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law of its kind in the United States granting farm workers the right to organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions. Huerta was named by Ms. Magazine as one of three “Women of the Year” in 1998 and is recognized by Ladies’ Home Journal among the “100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century.”
The rest of the schedule is:
Wednesday, Nov. 8: John “Jody” Kretzmann, on “Building Community From the Inside Out,” 7 p.m., Hedges Conference Room, The Commons. A book co-authored by Kretzmann, “Building Communities From the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets,” has had a major impact on the field of community building by focusing on the talents and gifts, rather than deficiencies, of “problem” neighborhoods. Kretzmann has been a community organizer in Chicago for 30 years. He is co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute in the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University.
Thursday, Nov. 9: Ingrid Christiansen, on “Grass-roots Organizing in Chicago: A Feminist’s Perspective,” 3:30 p.m., Shaw Lounge, The Commons. Christiansen draws on 30 years of experience with a variety of grass-roots organizations for her perspective on women, change and the city. She serves on the board of Genesis House, an activity center for prostitutes in Chicago where she worked as supervisor of staff and activities during a recent sabbatical from her teaching position at the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Urban Studies Program.
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001: Larry Hufford, on “Social Justice and Sustainable Development in Latin America,” 7 p.m., Hedges Conference Room, The Commons. For 16 years Hufford has been a first-hand observer of community organizing efforts in Latin America. In 1995 he was invited by United Nations Non-Governmental Organizations to be an official observer of the Guatemalan national elections. He has served on several boards and commissions from the local to international level, including the San Antonio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Board of Christians for Peace in El Salvador and the Center for Social and Economic Justice, based in Washington, D.C. He is a political science professor and director of the graduate program in international relations at St. Mary’s University. During January Cornell will display a photo exhibit, “Spiritual Connections,” of 20 images from Hufford’s trips to Guatemala; El Salvador; Nicaragua; Honduras; Chiapas, Mexico; Cuba; Bangladesh; and India.
The lecture series is sponsored by the Cornell President’s Office, Academic Affairs and the department of sociology and anthropology.