HOUSTON – Monday, March 29 is a holiday and day of community service for students and staff of the Houston Independent School District, the largest school district in Texas.
It is all in honor of César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, two labor activists who helped win greater rights for farmworkers across the country.
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Chávez and Huerta co-founded influential unions, including the United Farm Workers, that shaped employee relations in the 1960s and 1970s. Both continued to advocate for workers in the following decades, each receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Chávez died in 1993; Huerta, at age 90, continues to advocate on behalf of low-income residents, Hispanics and women.
Their rally cry ”¡Sí, se puede!” is one that we’ve heard for decades.
On March 27, the Houston Independent School District held its first-ever Chávez-Huerta Student Symposium. The student-led event aimed to examine the activists’ lasting impact on educational, economical, and societal issues.
Schools and offices will reopen for normal business on Tuesday, March 30, 2021.