Bert Corona and his Vision

Born to immigrant parents in the border town of El Paso in 1918 and inspired by his father's participation in the Mexican Revolution, Corona has dedicated his life to fighting economic and social injustice. His untiring activism, based on coalition-building and community mobilization, spans much of the twentieth century. As a young man in the 1930's, Bert Corona took part in the great organizing campaigns for the newly formed Congress of Industrial Organizations among various ethnic groups in the Los Angeles area. These early union drives infused the Latino community with a new vitality, creating groups such as the Mexican American Movement, the National Congress of Spanish-Speaking People, and the Association National Mexico-Americana. Furthermore, Bert Corona worked alongside Cesar Chavez and the UFW organizing farm workers and in the political sphere, he served as co-chair for both Lyndon Johnson's and Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaigns in California. Corona also worked immersing himself in the campaign to organize undocumented Latino immigrants.

Bert Corona's experiences are historical, inspirational, and political in nature. His life offers an invaluable lesson about Latino leadership in the past and important tools for the future. Bert Corona also founded Hermandad Mexicana Nacional (HMN). HMN is the nation's largest Latino immigrant's organization, with over 30,000 member families across the country. Founded in San Diego, California in 1951, it is a not-for-profit mutual-aid organization that combines the strong family values of Latin American culture and the deeply-rooted United States tradition of volunteerism. Bert Corona died on February 15th, 2001 in Los Angeles, CA leaving behind a vision for BCLI. The BCLI embraces this vision and the spirit and energy of its visionary, by continuing to provide programs aimed at bringing migrants and immigrants into the American political mainstream. As a longtime community, civil rights, and labor leader in California and the United States, Bert Corona embodies the persistent struggle by Latinos against injustice and racism. For more about Bert Corona order his book from BCLI: email info@bcli.info.