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What was she most famous for?

Emma Tenayuca was a Mexican-American labor activist who was most known for her work in the Worker's Alliance of America and the Communist Party of Texas. She led and organized a protest with pecan shellers who demanded for better working conditions. She and 20,000 pecan shellers took to the San Antonio streets and fought for their rights as workers after having their rights neglected for so long.

The Great Depression and the rise of Communism

After Black Tuesday, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the people of the U.S. experienced economic turmoil, job loss, and unjust conditions in their place of work. A third of the workforce found themselves underemployed, wages decreased as consumerism found itself at an all-time low, and 25% of all bank account users found themselves losing their savings due to the Black Tuesday incident.

| CPUSA Archives | Participants of the Unemployment Council gathered in front of the White House for a great protest during International Unemployment Day | March 6th, 1930 | Image | Date Accessed: 4/16/2025 |

The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) promised to fight against the Depression and ensure more worker rights. It even organized International Unemployment Day, a holiday to spread the word regarding the significant unemployment rates affecting a significant portion of the U.S. during the Great Depression.

Emma Tenayuca's Early Life

Emma Tenayuca was born in San Antonio, Texas, on December 21st, 1916. Throughout her childhood, she noticed the injustices that came into place as a result of being Latino. She found that even within her family–where her father came from an indigenous background and her mother came from a Spanish background–they saw struggle differently.

Eventually, when Emma Tenayuca was a high school junior at Brackenridge High School, she joined a strike of female workers at the H.W. Finck Cigar Company, where she protested for higher wages. She watched as officials attacked the protestors, promptly before being arrested herself for joining the strike. This set a precedent where she wished to fight for social justice.

Joining the Communist Party

In 1936, Emma Tenayuca joined the Communist Party. The Communist Party was experiencing a shift in its history as it began to align itself with FDR's New Deal. They believed that the New Deal would provide appropriate regulations for Americans and welcome people of all races and backgrounds.

This mentality further drove Tenayuca on a path of activism, leading her to form the Workers' Alliance of America and be part of the executive committee. There, she would organize strikes, write campaign letters, and conduct many protests. By this point in time, she was met with lots of controversy for her work and for her association with the Communist Party.

Pecan Strikers': Tenayuca's Contributions

| UTSA | Maria del Refugio Ozuna, age 13, and Mrs. San Juan Gonzales, age 77, were both working at the Southern Pecan Shelling Company. | January 17th, 1938 | Image | Date Accessed: 4/17/2025 |

In San Antonio, half of all Texan pecan facilities were located in the area. The pecan shelling industry was a growing industry in the area. While it was a growing industry, it was very unregulated because pecan companies were fully capable of underpaying their workers and forcing them to endure unsafe and unregulated working conditions.



On January 31st, 1938, 12,000 pecan strikers took to the streets to protest against their low wages and unsafe working conditions. While these strikers wanted to hold Tenayuca as the strike leader and fight for the pecan strikers, union leaders feared that her associations with the Communist Party would set a bad impression on the media and removed her as a strike leader. Nonetheless, Tenayuca worked in the picket lines, delivering inspirational speeches and writing out pamphlets to the public.

Throughout the time of the protest, police officers fought against the strikers through physical beatings and tear gas to ease the tensions, with over 1000 strikers arrested during these times.

| USTA | Workers Alliance leader Emma Tenayuca, with clenched fist in the air, speaking to crowd outside San Antonio City Hall following a parade protesting scarcity of Works Progress Administration jobs | January 31st, 1938 | Image | Date Accessed: 4/17/2025 |

Emma Tenayuca Controversy: Public Meeting

On August 25th, 1939, Tenayuca, Homer Brooks (a prominent figure in the US Communist Party who was also her husband), and a colleague held a meeting in the Municipal Building of San Antonio. This meeting consisted of about 150 activists and discussed ideas of union rights, establishing a minimum wage, Social Security, etc. Several Ku Klux Klan members gathered outside the Municipal building, throwing rocks to make their way in and exclaiming how they were going to lynch Tenayuca for her communist beliefs. When they entered the building, Tenayuca and Brooks were nowhere to be found. They had escaped using a secret passageway but were officially considered blacklisted.

After receiving several death threats following the gathering at the Municipal Building, Tenayuca and Brooks were forced to flee to Houston. There, she occasionally participated in Communist Party Activities but tried to keep a low profile. Although she had fled to Houston, she was still being tracked by the FBI, who kept a massive file on her and her associates.

Emma Tenayuca passed away on July 23rd, 1999, in San Antonio, Texas (her hometown). The Tejano community highly praised Tenayuca's efforts, coining the term "La Pasionaria de Texas" (the passionflower of Texas) to describe her activism and dedication to workers' rights.