"La Pasionaria de Texas"

"Emma Tenayuca is a name still whispered on the West Side of San Antonio, especially among those who lived through the 1930s. While still in her early twenties, she was the charismatic leader of a labor movement that shook San Antonio, both because it affected the city’s largest industry at the time—pecan shelling—and because it marked the first sign of political liberation of the city’s Mexican American populace from the bossism that had controlled it for decades."

-- Geoffrey Rips in "Living history: Emma Tenayuca tells her story"

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Hardy, Gayle J. American Women Civil Rights Activists: Bio-bibliographies of 68 Leaders, 1825-1992. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1993.
REFERENCE 323.09227 HARDY

Meier, Matt S. Mexican American Biographies: A Historical Dictionary, 1836-1987. New York: Greenwood, 1988.
LATINO 920 MEIER

Meier, Matt S. and Feliciano Rivera. Dictionary of Mexican American History. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1981.
LATINO 973.04687 MEIER

Telgen, Diane, and Jim Kamp, eds. Notable Hispanic American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1993.
LATINO 920.72089 NOTABLE

Zophy, Angela Howard. Handbook of American Women’s History. New York: Garland, 1990.
REFERENCE 305.4 HANDBOOK

ARTICLES AND SHORT WORKS ABOUT EMMA TENAYUCA
AND THE SAN ANTONIO PECAN SHELLERS

Blackwelder, Julia Kirk. "Women and the Labor Movement." In Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929-1939. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1984, p. 130-15.
LATINO 305.40976 BLACKWELDER

Bowser, David. "A Tribute to Emma Tenayuca." In City of Mystery and Romance: 15 True Stories from San Antonio’s Past. San Antonio, TX: D. Bowser, 1993, p. 13-16.
LATINO 976.4351 BOWSER

Calderón, Roberto R. and Emilio Zamora. "Manuela Solís and Emma B. Tenayuca: A Tribute." In Between Borders: Essays on Mexicana/Chicana History. Encino, CA: Floricanto Press, 1990, p. 269-279.
LATINO 305.48868 BETWEEN

Kever, Jeannie. "La Pasionaria still speaks out for justice." San Antonio Light (March 6, 1988), p. J3, J6.
TEXANA MICROFILM

"La Pasionaria de Texas." Time 31 (February 28, 1938), p. 17.
PERIODICALS MICROFILM

Peyton, Green. "La Pasionaria." In San Antonio: City in the Sun. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1946, p. 168-176.
TEXANA 976. 41 PEYTON

Pisano, Marina. "Legendary leader." San Antonio Express News (March 12, 1996), p. 1E.
TEXANA MICROFILM

Pisano, Marina, "Organizer remembered for passion, controversy." San Antonio Express News (July 24, 1999), p. 1A.
TEXANA MICROFILM

Rips, Geoffrey. "Living history: Emma Tenayuca tells her story." Texas Observer (October, 28, 1983), p. 7-15.
TEXANA MICROFILM

Shapiro, Harold A. "The Pecan Shellers of San Antonio, Texas." In Chicano: the Revolution of a people. Compiled by Renato Rosaldo. Huntington, NY: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Co., 1977, p. 193-202.
LATINO 301.45168 ROSALDO

Work Projects Administration. The Pecan Shellers of San Antonio: The Problem of Underpaid and Unemployed Mexican Labor. Written by Selden C. Menefee and Orin C. Cassmore. Washington: United States GPO, 1940.
TEXANA 331.763

These materials are available at the San Antonio Central Library.
Check online catalog for branch availability.

WEB SITES

"Por la raza y para la raza:" A Look At Tejana Activists, 1900-1998 - A brief biographical essay about Emma Tenayuca and four other Tejana activists, including Jovita Idar, Graciela Sánchez, Petra Mata and Cecilia Rodríguez.

Updated: 09/23/2005