Honoring Governor Jim Hunt’s Legacy

Dolores Huerta dedicated her life to building political power for farm workers who nourish the world.

Huerta began her career as an elementary school teacher near Stockton, California. Her students, who were the children of farm workers, often came to class hungry, without proper shoes and clothing. This galvanized Huerta to become a community organizer who transformed the labor rights movement. 

Women are making 60 cents on the dollar to what a man makes. Women cannot buy meat cheaper. Women cannot buy bread cheaper. Women cannot buy milk cheaper. Women deserve to get paid for the work that you do. It's right and it's fair. 

– Rev. Jesse Jackson

In the late 1950's, she was a political lobbyist at the state capitol in Sacramento. Huerta won key victories in expanding aid for farmworker families, securing insurance for agricultural workers with disabilities, and making driver's license tests available in Spanish. As a Mexican American woman, Huerta paved the way for women to become lobbyists and shape their political destiny. 

Huerta made history at every stage of her career, including when she co-founded the United Farm Workers union in 1966. She worked with Filipino farmworkers to stage a nationwide grape boycott to negotiate higher wages and safer working conditions that address the root causes of hunger for farmworkers' families. 

Reverend Jesse Jackson was a tireless advocate for SNAP grocery support — and supported faith-based hunger relief across the country. 

Jackson made anti-hunger advocacy the cornerstone of his work. He deeply understood the root causes of hunger and how economic disparities form across race, gender, and sexual orientation. In 1988, Jackson addressed the intersection of hunger and the gender wage gap: 

Women are making 60 cents on the dollar to what a man makes. Women cannot buy meat cheaper. Women cannot buy bread cheaper. Women cannot buy milk cheaper. Women deserve to get paid for the work that you do. It's right and it's fair. 

– Rev. Jesse Jackson

Jackson's commitment to service is rooted in the civil rights movement and  Black church traditions. Jackson stood by Dr. Martin Luther King to advance the Poor People's Campaign for dignity and economic justice. After Dr. King's assassination in 1968, Jackson continued the legacy of his mentor's campaign by calling for an end to job discrimination through targeted boycotts. Jackson helped usher in a new wave of economic advancement by pressuring major corporations to hire Black employees and implement policies that promote racial justice. 

Though Jackson found significant success and became a larger-than-life figure to many, he never lost sight of his roots in economically disadvantaged communities. Reverend Jackson fought tirelessly to uplift the self-esteem of historically oppressed communities through his popular call-and-response chant, "I Am Somebody." And now, through viral social media posts, a new generation is discovering the urgency of Jackson's message that everyone should live with dignity — a belief we share deeply here at the Food Bank.

America must never surrender to malnutrition. We can feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We must never surrender. We must go forward.

– Reverend Jesse Jackson