Septuagenarian Recalls Roots of a 'Lifelong Battle' for Justice

In honor of Cesar Chavez Day, the Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno has partnered with StoryCorps to record and preserve the stories of Latino families in the San Joaquin Valley. 

We'll be airing excerpts of some of those conversations over the next several weeks on The California Report Magazine. This week, we hear from farmworker activist Graciela Martinez and her son, Richard Herron.

Graciela Martinez has a long history of civil rights activism.

The septuagenarian joined up with the United Farm Workers at 19 with dreams of becoming Cesar Chavez's personal secretary -- a dream she would eventually realize.

She worked for many years with the American Friends Service Committee and got the opportunity to go to Montgomery, Ala. to march with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

She spent decades as a typist, secretary and interpreter helping provide legal services to farmworkers.

"The lullabies that you went to sleep with was the clack of my typewriter," Graciela tells her son, Richard Herron.

Richard remembers watching television with his sisters in the living room while his mom transcribed in the kitchen.

"It sounded like you were typing 5,000 words per minute," Richard said, "and you would look at the TV and sometimes carry on short conversations at the same time while you would transcribe, and I always thought that was just amazing that you could do that."

Richard sat down with his mom for a StoryCorps interview to learn more about her life of activism.

The project was co-sponsored by the California State University, Fresno Office of the President, the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Social Sciences and Valley Public Radio.