Yes we can! Celebrate the lives of labor and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta. Farmworkers Day is March 31, a state holiday in California.

Chavez’s life and work for multiple grade levels leads to pop up: the allegations of violence and abuse by Cesar Chavez are deeply troubling and disturbing. In light of these revelations, the California Department of Education encourages all schools and educators to teach about the farmworkers’ movement as a struggle that is greater than one man. Resources to support this shift in teaching about the farmworkers’ movement can be found on the California Farmworkers Day page.

Last year, a team of educators including CTA members worked with the Dolores Huerta Foundation to develop K-12 curriculum based on her life and legacy. Students can learn about the rich history of struggle in the Central Valley and the state as they examine the essential question: “How do people work together to solve problems and implement the solution?”

“I want students to get a sense of their own empowerment and the things they can do to make the world a better place,” Huerta said about the curriculum. Find it at doloreshuerta.org. (Read our story at cta.org/doloreshuerta.)

Enter CTA’s Dolores Huerta Education Awards Program

Students from pre-K through higher education can demonstrate an understanding of the vision and guiding principles embraced by Huerta by submitting a visual arts project or a written essay. For details, go to Dolores Huerta Education Award Programs page.

Featured image: Artwork by student Aaliyah Ruiz; teacher Nicole Brady; Ontiveros Elementary School