In honor of Women's History Month, this week EAA highlights Luisa Moreno, a Guatemalan-born American labor organizer. She started organizing while working in a cafeteria in New York in the 1930s, protesting against long hours and consistent sexual harassment. In one incident, she walked past police guarding the cafeteria against picketers by wearing a fur coat and acting as if she were a customer. When she arrived at the door, she pulled out a strike sign from under her coat and was carried off by officers. She later organized African-American and Latina cigar makers in Florida. She became a representative of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America, where she organized workers in Texas and California during the 1930s. Moreno was a staunch advocate for the rights of immigrants, especially from Latin American countries. She organized the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee to help clear those indicted in what the media dubbed the “Sleepy Lagoon murder.” In the 1950s, she was targeted by immigration officials because of her activism. She was offered citizenship in exchange for testifying against a labor leader, but she refused, stating that she would not be “a free woman with a mortgaged soul.”
