Workers: Emma Tenayuca

Emma Tenayuca (1916-1999)  was a Mexican-American labor organizer and civil rights activist who led a wave of strikes by women workers in Texas during the Great Depression. She is known as la pasionaria de Texas, or the Passionate One. 

For Further Reading:

• On One of the Great Unsung Heroes of the American Labor Movement
• A conversation with Emma Tenayuca
• The Militant Passion of Emma Tenayuca

This month we’re talking about workers: Women who fought for labor rights and shaped the way we do business today. They advocated and innovated to make the “office” – wherever it is – a more equitable place.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Hannah Bottum, Lauren Willams, and Adrien Behn. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello for Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about workers, women who
fought for labor rights and shaped the way we do
business today. They advocated and innovated to make the office
wherever it is, a more equitable place. Throughout the nineteen twenties,
recent immigrants from Mexico took to the soapbox in San

(00:27):
Antonio's Myleam Park. They spoke passionately about religion, labor rights,
and most importantly politics. In the crowd on Sundays you
would find politically active adults and a remarkable young girl
whose ideas about the world took shape with every fiery speech.
She would go on to become one of the most
prolific labor rights activists in Texas. Let's talk about Lapacionaria

(00:52):
to Texas. Emma Teneyuka Emma Teneyuka was born to a
Mexican Commanche family on December twenty first, nineteen sixteen, in
San Antonio, Texas. She was the oldest of eleven children
and was raised mostly by her grandfather. At the time,
women were often discouraged from learning about politics, but Emma's

(01:15):
grandfather was steadfast and his belief that she should be educated, empathetic,
and aware of her rich Mexican heritage. He was the
one who introduced her to activism in the park and
encouraged her to stand up for her beliefs. During high school,
Emma joined a reading group. The students read the work
of thinkers like Thomas Paine and Karl Marx. This gave

(01:37):
Emma the language to explain the plight she and her
community faced during the Great Depression. It was impossible to
ignore the suffering. This concrete experience of seeing people hungry
and overworked fueled her early interest in activism far more
than any abstract concept. When Emma was sixteen years old,

(01:58):
she heard that a group of Mexican women workers from
the H. W. Fink Cigar Company was striking over low
wages in unsanitary conditions, so she decided to join the
picket line. Emma was arrested for her involvement, but it
didn't faser she had found her cause. After high school,

(02:23):
Emma worked a series of blue collar jobs. She was
a door to door salesperson, an elevator operator. She even
washed jars in a pickle factory. She joined groups like
the League of United Latin American Citizens and the International
Garment Workers Union, and she found her niche when she
joined the West Side Unemployed Council and the Workers' Alliance

(02:45):
of America. With these organizations, she fought to help Mexican
Americans find jobs. At the time, Mexican Americans weren't getting
equal support from the Works Progress administration. Emma was leading
strikes and protests and going door to door to crude
and organize. Soon people all across the city knew her name,

(03:06):
and when she was twenty one years old, her name
became known nationally. Thanks to trouble in Texas's pecan factories
in the late nineteen thirties. Pecan processing was a big
industry for Mexican and Mexican American workers. In San Antonio.
On the west side of the city, there were four
hundred pecan shelling factories, and these factories were horribly unsafe.

(03:29):
There were no bathrooms or windows in the picking sheds.
Fine brown dust wafted through the air of the sheds
and led to higher rates of tuberculosis. The workers' days
were hot, uncomfortable, and difficult. People worked for six to
seven cents per pound. At the time, the West Side
of San Antonio was destitute, many people locked indoor plumbing

(03:51):
and electricity. When the depression started to squeeze factory owners
in nineteen thirty eight, they took advantage of their workers
who had no other options. They cut workers pay to
just three cents per pound. The workers had had enough,
thousands of workers, mostly Mexican American women, decided to walk
out in protest. When Emma heard about it, she stepped

(04:15):
up to lead the Sheller's strike. She was promptly arrested
and marked as a communist by the San Antonio police chief,
but no arrest or target on her back could stop
Emma from organizing. The Sheller's strike went on for three months.
Police beat the strikers, tear gasped them, and put them
in jail. Still, Emma persisted, holding rallies for thousands of workers.

(04:39):
In the end, the workers initially gained a wage increase
of seven to eight cents per pound. When the Fair
Labour Standards Act was passed later that year, their wages
increased to twenty five cents per pound. Though the shellers
were soon replaced by machines, Emma's organizing made material changes
in the lives of her community. Members. Outside of her

(05:01):
organizing work, Emma had joined the Communist Party and married
Homer Brooks, the secretary of the Texas Communist Party. Together
the two ran for public office. Emma ran for Congress
and Homer ran for governor. Unfortunately, this was the beginning
of the end of Emma's life of activism. In nineteen
thirty nine, she held the Communist Party's convention in the

(05:22):
city auditorium. This didn't sit well with some Texans, as
Emma and other members of the party kicked off the
meeting singing the Star Spangled banner. A violent mob assembled outside.
Emma barely made it out alive. From that day forward,
it was hard for Emma to find work in Texas.
She became disillusioned with the Communist Party and its goals,

(05:43):
and she fell out of love with Homer. Emma moved
to San Francisco and became a teacher. Years later, when
she moved back to Texas to teach, she was welcomed
with open arms. By that time, scholars and activists in
the Chicano movement had discovered Emma's work. She tutored and
mentored students who were interested in labor, politics and justice.

(06:05):
Emma died on July twenty third, nineteen ninety nine, at
the age of eighty two. The folk hero, lovingly called
the Passionate One, is buried in San Antonio, where her
life's work began. All month, We're talking about workers. For
more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica
Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and

(06:29):
co creator. Talk to you tomorrow.