Emma Tenayuca (1916 - 1999)

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Emma Tenayuca was a Mexican American labor union organizer, civil rights activist, and educator. She was very influential at a young age. She is best known for her work organizing Mexican workers in Texas during the 1930s, particularly for leading the 1938 Southern Pecan Shelling Company worker's strike. She was known as "La Pasionaria" (the Fervently Committed Woman) because of her commitment to the workers.

Portrait of Emma Tenayuca from August 1939, San Antonio Light Photograph Collection, UTSA Special Collections -- Institute of Texan Cultures.