Emma Tenayuca
During the era of the First Wave Feminism, there weren't many women involved in advocating for the rights of women of color. Emma Beatrice Tenayuca, a Mexican American Tejano labor and civil rights activist who led labor strikes, unions and protests in the 1930s.
Born on December 12, 1916, Tenayuca was a bright scholar in high school and college who grew up with a strong sense of Mexican identity that was passed on to her by her Mexican grandparents and parents. After graduation, Tenayuca began working as an elevator operator and worked with other female activists to organize women workers in San Antonio. She also collaborated with organizations like LULAC and International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) to advocate for the labor rights of women of color, and help more women of color get involved in jobs. Realizing that organizations like LULAC and ILGWU often neglected the struggles of the people of her Tejano community, Tenayuca created self-organizations to individually fight for justice of Mexican Americans and Tejanos. Tenayuca and other Mexican American women also felt that their needs were being ignored by White feminists during this time, and organized separate labor strikes and protests to fight for their rights.
Noticing the wage gaps between White women workers and women of color workers, she motivated many women to fight for equal wages. Tenayuca was worked closely with the WPA (Works Progress Administration) during the Great Depression, to help provide financial relief for the unemployed by providing income to Mexican American families and women. As she organized and led more associations, unions and protests in favor of working class Mexican Americans and Tejanas, Tenayuca encouraged and motivated many to join her fight for justice and equal rights. When many Mexican-born individuals fled to the U.S. during the Great Depression to be near family, Tenayuca encouraged them to join unions and organizations to work, reasoning that immigrants and refugee women/families had certain rights and that they should fight for them.
The era of the First Wave Feminism was a non-inclusive, white-women-led movement that only benefitted that specific community of women in most cases. Despite these barriers, Tenayuca supported Mexican American women and families to help fight for labor and political rights they were entitled to at the time.