Thank You for sharing. Our communities should know about Juan de Dios González and his role in fighting education segregation and his role as a union organizer.
This is my historic grandfather. His story and victories for Farmworkers and their families in the 1930’s motivated almost 18% of his grandchildren (10 cousins of 72) to work with Cesar Chavez for $5.00 per week.
We worked as his personal security, construction, boycott organizers, administrators, negotiators, etc. it was a natural extension of Tata Juan’s warrior spirit to fight for what’s right.
After 5 years on Cesar’s security detail, I was proud that I could help realize my grandfather’s vision. Cesar’s training led to my negotiating 10 contracts, led 7 strikes with 3,500 workers, won those 7 elections, and then founded the Farmworkers Institute of Education and Leadership Development ( FIELD) in 2000.
At FIELD, I and my team founded a statewide accredited high school charter for adults in 22 rural communities, who were without a high school education. I was named “Escuela Popular Instituto Campesino”( EPIC).
We educated almost 150,000 farmworkers, and other rural workers, to strengthen rural communities.
Our intent was to build the capacity of Farmworkers to build wealth through shared ownership assets. After my retirement in 2024, it continues today.
All from Juan De Dios Gonzalez Escobedo’s vision for empowerment of rural Latino Communities.
