Emma Tenayuca

and the 1938 San Antonio Pecan Shellers Strike

Immersive curriculum
for children ages 8-14

Download the official transcript and translation here.

Official website and resource portal for the documentary film Emma Tenayuca and the 1938 San Antonio Pecan Shellers Strike by Anne Lewis. Website by Xica Media.

Based on the feature documentary A Strike An An Uprising (in Texas!)

Screenings

Map of Historic Locations

Click on the map to learn about the key historic locations in San Antonio, Texas related to Emma Tenayuca and the Pecan Shellers Strike.

Hear Emma Speak

Select iconic moments of Emma Tenayuca from the film A Strike and An Uprising (in Texas!)

Oral Histories

Important moments of the Pecan Shellers Strike

Photo Gallery

Select photos from the film.

Which labor leader would you be?

They offer you citizenship if you testify against labor leader, Harry Bridges. You say you will not be “a free woman with a mortgaged soul.” A warrant for your deportation was issued in 1950 and you left the U.S., never to return. UCAPAWA was the union of the pecan shellers, featured in “A Strike and an Uprising.”
Luisa Moreno, Guatemalan born representative of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America in Texas and California in the 1930’s.
As a child, you hear the speeches of Magonistas at Milam Park. Later you join the Communist Party and co-write “The Mexican Question in the Southwest” which looked at the Mexican American community as a national minority.
Emma Tenayuca, strike leader of 10,000 pecan shellers. You will find photos, film footage, and audio of Emma Tenayuca in “A Strike and an Uprising.”
You are an elderly African American woman. You clean the house of the university president and 3 buildings. They tell you to clean the male student dormitory bathrooms. You refuse even though you know they will fire you.
Annie Mae Carpenter was the first plaintiff in a class race and gender discrimination suit against Stephen F. Austin State University, which lasted from the early 1970’s through the organizing drive in the late 1980’s. The history of the law suit and the organizing campaign are told in “A Strike and an Uprising.” https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/706/608/378668/
You are the main fundraiser for a strike, in love with a union organizer. Your marriage has more than a thousand workers in attendance. Your future husband arrives late because he has a paper to write. You marry him anyway. https://www.strikeandanuprising.org/emma/
Latane Lambert came to Texas to work with the pecan shellers strike even though her future husband George Lambert told her Texas was “a fierce awful place.”
You are a cafeteria worker and you spill the Italian dressing. You mop it three times but your boss fires you anyway. You go back to work at the regular time and pretend nothing happened. You keep your job and help lead a union.
Shirley Stegall

Behind the Scenes

About the production team behind the film and immersive experience / educational toolkit.

Lead Characters

Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero
Analuisa Renovato
Frida Exilda Renovato
Annabelle Ordoyne

En Comunidad con

Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero
Analuisa Renovato
Frida Exilda Renovato
Annabelle Ordoyne

Filmmaker

Anne Lewis

Anne Lewis

Documentary Films
Visit AnneLewis.org

Producer/Site Assistant

Laura Varela

Laura Varela

Filmmaker / Artist
Visit VarelaFilm.org

Website Developer

Iris Rodriguez
@Xica Media

Xica Media

We love to work with people, communities, and organizations making a positive impact in the world.
Visit XicaMedia.com

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This Project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and AKR The Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation