April 10th will henceforth be celebrated as Dolores Huerta Day in Washington State

In a unan­i­mous vote ear­li­er this week, the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate passed HB 1906, a mea­sure des­ig­nat­ing each April 10th as Dolores Huer­ta Day.

Huer­ta was in the wings to wit­ness the forty-four to zero vote, accom­pa­nied by the bil­l’s spon­sor, State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Lil­lian Ortiz-Self (the fea­tured speak­er at NPI’s 2016 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala on Mer­cer Island).

The leg­is­la­tion had pre­vi­ous­ly passed the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives over­whelm­ing­ly, with only a few mil­i­tant Repub­li­cans in opposition.

Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee sub­se­quent­ly signed the bill into law in a cer­e­mo­ny on Thurs­day morn­ing, flanked by a large group of law­mak­ers and activists.

Dolores Huer­ta, as many read­ers of the Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate like­ly know, is a trail­blaz­ing Amer­i­can labor leader and civ­il rights activist. In her ear­ly years, Huer­ta worked as a teacher while also rais­ing a child as a sin­gle moth­er. After see­ing the pover­ty her stu­dents faced as chil­dren of farm work­ers, Huer­ta joined the ris­ing move­ments to improve the liv­ing and work­ing con­di­tions of farm workers.

In 1962, she, along with César Chávez, formed the Nation­al Farm Work­ers Asso­ci­a­tion (NFWA), which even­tu­al­ly became the Unit­ed Farm Work­ers of Amer­i­ca. She also helped orga­nize the Delano grape strike in 1965 in California.

Huer­ta worked with­in these move­ments to also fight against gen­der dis­crim­i­na­tion and went on to work on many oth­er issues, includ­ing immi­gra­tion reform, income inequal­i­ty, and the rights of women and those in the Lati­no community.

She received many awards for her life­time of ser­vice, includ­ing the Eugene V. Debs Foun­da­tion Out­stand­ing Amer­i­can Award, the Unit­ed States Pres­i­den­tial Eleanor Roo­sevelt Award for Human Rights and the Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Free­dom.

She was also the first Lati­na in the Nation­al Women’s Hall of Fame.

“Women’s His­to­ry Month cel­e­brates the vital role of women in Amer­i­can his­to­ry, and Dolores Huer­ta is one of those women we rec­og­nize as instru­men­tal in the fight for farm work­ers’ rights,” said Sen­a­tor Rebec­ca Sal­daña (D‑37th Dis­trict).

“Her sto­ry res­onates with many women from under­rep­re­sent­ed groups, and her work has paved the way for women like me in assum­ing lead­er­ship roles in their com­mu­ni­ties. This recog­ni­tion sends a mes­sage about the impor­tance of the lead­er­ship of women and peo­ple of color.”

April is Women’s His­to­ry Month, and Ortiz-Self is proud to have suc­cess­ful­ly guid­ed House Bill 1906 through the leg­isla­tive process. While Dolores Huer­ta Day will no doubt be cel­e­brat­ed and observed dur­ing this leg­isla­tive ses­sion, it will not be offi­cial­ly added to the state’s list of hol­i­days until lat­er this year because the bill does not take effect until nine­ty days after the date the Leg­is­la­ture adjourns.

“I am proud that Wash­ing­ton will now hon­or the lega­cy and rec­og­nize the remark­able life of a tire­less work­er, a pas­sion­ate advo­cate and a true fight­er. A war­rior whose unwa­ver­ing quest for civ­il rights, equal­i­ty and jus­tice con­tin­ue to make our nation a more per­fect union,” said Ortiz-Self.

“A woman who defi­ant­ly looked oppres­sion in the eye and said, enough. A Lati­na who pushed oth­er Lati­nas to seek posi­tions of lead­er­ship. An Amer­i­can who taught us that togeth­er we can do great things. Sí se puede!”

” Ms. Huer­ta made her mark as a cease­less advo­cate for work­ers and civ­il rights,” remarked Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee. “Work­ers every­where are indebt­ed to [Dolores] for her pas­sion, deter­mi­na­tion and hard work. I have been inspired by her work for labor rights through­out my entire career.”

Wash­ing­ton is the sec­ond state in the nation to rec­og­nize Dolores Huer­ta Day, after Cal­i­for­nia, which adopt­ed sim­i­lar leg­is­la­tion in 2018 (AB 2455).