Bert Corona
Humberto N. Corona | |
---|---|
Born | May 29, 1918 |
Died | January 15, 2001 | (aged 82)
Nationality | Mexican-American |
Occupation(s) | Labor movement and civil rights leader |
Humberto Noé Corona (May 29, 1918 – January 15, 2001) was an American
Family background
Corona's father Noé Corona was a commander in
His mother, Margarita Escápite Salayandía, was a Chihuahua schoolteacher educated at Protestant missionary schools. His maternal grandmother was a physician. The family emigrated to El Paso, Texas in 1914 or 1915, marrying at about the same time. His parents married in the Juarez customs house under Villa's sponsorship.[1] They settled into a home in the predominantly Mexican Segundo Barrio neighborhood where their four children Aurora, Humberto, Orlando, and Horacio were born.
In El Paso, his father worked in the logging and
Education
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Corona began his education at Mexican Protestant kindergartens, but enrolled in public school in the first grade. There his command of English, which his mother had taught him, caused him to excel. He remained in the Texas public system until the fourth grade, when his mother, disgusted with the mistreatment of Mexican-American and Mexican immigrant students, sent him to Harwood Boys School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, he learned a sense of discipline, but also experienced racism. In protest of the threatened expulsion of students who spoke out against physical abuse from a coach charged with disciplining students, in addition to negative portrayals of the Mexican War, the Mexican Revolution, and Pancho Villa, the students struck, refusing to attend classes. The administration rescinded the expulsions and forced the coach to apologize.
He returned to El Paso for high school, attending the "Mexican" (
During high school he became politicized through reading the work of
After graduating in 1934, Corona worked in a drug store and played in a local basketball league. In 1936 he accepted an athletic scholarship from the
During his time in Los Angeles, Corona was exposed to Communist-influenced
At USC, Corona undertook a five-year law program. He hurt his ankle early in his freshman year, and subsequently sat out the rest of the season. As a result, he dedicated his energy to his studies and to the "Non-Org Association", a coalition of lower-class students who soon came to dominate school politics.
By 1937, Corona was involved with the CIO, and shortly afterward he decided he preferred labor organizing to basketball. He remained in school, however, and became active in the Mexican American Movement (MAM) of Los Angeles-area college students. MAM focused attention on the unequal educational opportunities of Mexican American students, as well as police brutality. MAM disbanded with the entry of the United States into World War II, when many of its members volunteered for military service.
Union activities
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During his studies at USC, Corona worked for Brunswig Drug Company as a checker. He and his colleagues were approached by the striking International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which they agreed to support. The longshoremen won their demands, and the drugstore workers, who felt they were receiving unfair treatment, were inspired to form a union of their own. They organized as a local of the ILWU, electing Marion Phelps president and Corona recording secretary. He served on various committees in the union and learned organizing skills from Lloyd Seeliger. In 1940 Corona was named head of the Local 26's strike committee and in 1941, in the wake of Phelps's resignation, was unanimously elected local president. Shortly after his election, a rival contender for the presidency organized an unauthorized slowdown for which Corona was blamed and fired. Harry Bridges, chief of the ILWU and a major figure within the CIO, offered Corona a position as a CIO organizer.
With the CIO, Corona worked to unionize Molokan and Mexican workers in the waste material industries. He also reached out to the children of the Mexican workers, the Pachucos, who aided the union. As the CIO unionized workers in the various industries throughout the city, Corona and other organizers secured employment for the disenfranchised youth in those same fields, solidifying the bond between the two groups.
During the 1940s the CIO forged an alliance with
The Congreso worked closely with the CIO on the issues of labor rights, police brutality, inequality in schools, and access to public facilities. One of the major campaigns of the time was the defense of the Mexican American youth accused of the
Corona also became involved in the struggle against racial discrimination in the criminal justice system when he joined the defense committee of Fetus Coleman, an
Marriage
On August 2, 1941, Corona and Blanche Taff, a Jewish-American labor organizer he met during the a United Auto Workers drive to organize Los Angeles aviation workers, eloped to Yuma, Arizona. According to Corona, their cultural differences were an issue, but their union was a natural one given the circumstances:
In the labor and radical circles I was a part of, there was a good deal of interaction, both political and social, among people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Our common commitments and struggles brought us together. Racism or ethnic conflict was not a part, or at least not a significant part, of these interactions. In the 1930s, young people of all races were drawn together in the unions and in the Popular Front struggles of the period. It was an interracial and interethnic movement with lofty ideals.[6]
The couple moved into a house in the
Corona remarried Angelina Casillas in 1994. Corona is survived by his daughter Margo De Lay, Frank Corona, and Ernesto Corona.
World War II
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Several months after the
After a year of training in Cedar City, Corona was sent to the
Shortly after the evaluation, Corona was questioned by a group of officers about his political ideology and union activities. He was asked his opinion about the books Mission to Moscow by Joseph E. Davies and One World by Wendell Willkie. Shortly thereafter, he was subject to another round of interrogation, this one lasting even longer. While he was never informed of the results of these rounds of questioning, he received an order removing him from his squadron and the Air Corps.
Following his dismissal from the Air Corps, Corona was sent to Torney Army General Hospital in
Corona transferred to the
Just prior to his unit's being deployed overseas, Corona requested a pass to go to Atlanta for the weekend. According to Corona, "a trick was pulled on me to ensure that I would either get kicked out of the paratroopers or miss the opportunity to go with my division to see combat."
Just when it seemed unlikely that Corona would be able to serve overseas, his colonel received a request for people for the
Post-war
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Following his discharge from the Army, Corona and his wife settled in East Los Angeles, taking up residence in the Ramona Gardens
Corona sought to return to work with the union, but found that his post had been filled during his military service. He turned instead to the docks, seeking work as a longshoreman, which he was unable to secure due to the Coast Guard's requirement that dockworkers have a security clearance.
In 1947, Corona accepted a job as a diamond salesman for his father-in-law's business. He and his family, which included his daughter Margo, who had been born during the war, relocated to
Despite working in private business, Corona retained an interest in union activities. During the 1950s, however, it became more difficult to organize movements. He became involved in the effort to build the
Corona first met
ANMA
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While Corona worked with CSO, he was more active with the
In 1951, Corona was chosen to represent ANMA at international conference of mineworkers in Mexico City, where he was charged with promoting the cause of the striking mineworkers of Southern New Mexico. The strike was the subject of the 1954 film Salt of the Earth, whose star Rosaura Revueltas had been imprisoned on immigration charges. There he met mineworkers and labor organizers from all over Latin America, as well as prominent Mexican intellectuals including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and the writer José Revueltas, the brother of Rosaura Revueltas. José Revueltas organized a picket of the U.S. embassy in Mexico City to protest his sister's imprisonment that was attended by thousands of college students, which succeeded in pressuring the United States to release her.
Following the conference, Corona was invited to spend a few days at the Rivera's and Kahlo's home in
The FBI targeted ANMA and its leaders for harassment. In 1953, agents visited Corona's home while he was at work, informing his wife that they wanted to speak with him. They returned when Corona was home from work, and asked or his help identifying communists in ANMA and various unions. Corona suggested that they investigate fascists such as the
MAPA
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In April 1960, Corona was one of the founders of the
Corona was also closely associated with Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, which emphasized organizing unions and defending and providing social services to undocumented workers.[12] He met fellow activist Soledad Alatorre during the latter's work with labor organizations.[13] The two of them made connections to the HMN, which was at the time one of the only organizations working for Mexican-Americans that was also run by Mexican-Americans.[14] The HMN was facing difficulties due to the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee, so Corona and Alatorre took charge of the organization, and in 1968 moved it to Los Angeles, where its local chapters came to be known as Centro de Acción Social Autónomo, or "CASA".[14] CASA began to work for the rights of immigrant workers, and also provided them social services, including legal help and education. It also advocated for policies in their favor.[13]
From the late 1960s to the 1980s, Corona taught as a part-time instructor in the controversial emerging field of
In 1968, Dr.
Immigrant activism
Corona taught Chicano Studies at California State University – Los Angeles from 1970–1982, when he was dismissed.[15] One of the Corona's significant contributions was to educate the majority population that immigrant workers were a substantive part of the U.S. labor force, not a temporary phenomenon. His efforts and the work of CASA encouraged a unity between immigrant workers and U.S. born Mexican Americans. As a founder and leader of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional he played an important role in the efforts to gain an amnesty program for undocumented workers in the Immigration Reform and Control act 1986. IRCA. Corona continued to organize along with labor unions to change immigration policy and practices of unions and of the nation. In part as a result of his efforts, the AFL-CIO changed its policy on immigration in 2000, and some member unions began to restructure their unions to address the needs of immigrant workers.[16]
See also
References
- ^ a b Bacon, "El Valiente Chicano."
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, p. 35.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History. p. 41.
- OCLC 44954185.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, p. 112.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, pp. 131–132.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, pp. 139–140.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, p. 147.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, p. 151.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, p. 164.
- ^ García, Memories of Chicano History, p. 168.
- ^ Ortega, "Legacy of Bert Corona."
- ^ a b Ruiz 2006, p. 36.
- ^ a b Pycior 2014, p. 32.
- ^ Campbell, 1989, p.41
- ^ Shaw, 2008, p.214, Bacon, 2008.
Bibliography
- Bacon, David (2001-01-19). "El Valiente Chicano". David Bacon Photographs & Stories. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
- García, Mario T. (1994). Memories of Chicano History: The Life and Narrative of Bert Corona. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20152-3.
- Ortega, Carlos F. (August 2001). "The Legacy of Bert Corona". The Progressive: 26–27.
- Campbell, Duane . (January–March 1989). "Bert Corona: Labor Radical". Socialist Review. 19 (1): 41–55.
- Bacon, David (2008). Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-4226-7.
- Pycior, Julie Leininger (2014). Democratic Renewal and the Mutual Aid Legacy of US Mexicans. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9781623491284.
- Ruiz, Vicki L.; Sánchez Korrol, Virginia (2006). Latinas in the United States. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253111692.
- Shaw, Randy (2008). Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st. Century. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25107-6.
Research resources
- Bert N. Corona Papers, 1923–1984 (24 linear ft.) are housed in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Stanford University Libraries
External links
- "Bert Corona Leadership Institute". Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-11.