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.
|
