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[bright string music]
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[birds chirping]
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- Narrator: Roberto Hernández's
stomach growled.
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It had been several days
since his last meal,
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and he had to resist
the temptation to eat.
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He was an active guy,
so this wasn't easy.
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But it was important--
he was on a hunger strike.
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In fact, a whole community
of Latino activists
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were refusing to eat
as a form of peaceful protest.
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They wanted the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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to work with the city's Latinos
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to improve their
educational opportunities.
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The protestors had already
tried other tactics:
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meetings, marches,
candlelight vigils,
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even a peaceful sit-in
at the chancellor's office--
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the university's top leader!
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But nothing was working.
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Roberto and his fellow activists
knew
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they were fighting not just
for Latinos in Milwaukee,
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but for a community united
by language and cultures
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stretching from Wisconsin
to Texas and beyond.
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[bright music]
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To understand all this,
we need to jump back to 1944.
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Roberto Hernández was born that
year in Corpus Christi, Texas.
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He was the youngest
of five children.
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Roberto's family was originally
from Mexico.
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Many Mexican Americans and other
Latinos worked in all areas
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of food production,
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from ranching to harvesting
to canning and more.
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To do this work, many of them
traveled the country
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from spring through fall,
following the seasonal crops.
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Roberto had his own journey.
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He wasn't the best student
when he was in middle school,
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and he was getting in trouble
pretty often.
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His mother decided he needed
a fresh start.
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She sent him to Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
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to live with a brother and uncle
who had settled there.
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In his new city and new school,
Roberto did much better.
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He even became a star
football player in high school!
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After graduation, Roberto joined
the Army to pay for college,
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and then went to UW-Milwaukee.
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When he was still
a college student,
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a Latino activist
named Ernesto Chacon
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got in touch with Roberto.
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Ernesto was working
with the city's
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Latino high school students
to increase graduation rates
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so they could have
better job opportunities.
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Was Roberto interested
in being a part of that?
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Well, at first,
he wasn't so sure.
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He was busy being
a college student, right?
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But a few weeks later,
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Roberto went
to his first meeting
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for the Latin American Union
for Civil Rights.
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Young Latino activists
were excited and passionate
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about making changes
for la comunidad,
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the community,
and Roberto was hooked!
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He set to work helping out
not just Latino students,
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but all members of la comunidad.
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He had a talent for keeping
his cool in tense situations,
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and for bringing
different groups together.
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There were already
tens of thousands of Latinos
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living across Wisconsin,
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but many were struggling
for a better life.
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The big agricultural companies
wanted to pay them
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as little as possible,
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while some factories
wouldn't even hire them.
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They also faced
housing discrimination
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and were often shut out
of political participation.
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To address these issues,
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Latino activists began building
up their people-- la raza --
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unifying a network
that spanned the nation.
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They supported strikes
and boycotts
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to fight
for better working conditions,
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started running
for political offices,
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and marched with Black Americans
for civil rights,
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knowing they faced
similar problems.
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Roberto also knew that more
Latinos graduating from college
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would be an important step
forward.
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In the summer of 1970, he and
fellow activists issued a list
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of 11 ways UW-Milwaukee
could work in solidarity
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with the city's
Latino community.
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This included things like
admitting more Latino students
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and creating a Spanish Speaking
Outreach Institute.
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At first, the university agreed
to some changes.
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But as summer turned to fall,
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it was clear the university
was resistant
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to real collaboration
with the Latino community.
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Did this mean that Roberto
would have to admit defeat?
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No!
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They would stage a hunger strike
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in front of the
chancellor's building.
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A big break came early
one morning in late October,
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when a protester noticed that
the building had been left open.
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Dozens of them marched
into the chancellor's office
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to protest the university's
lack of action.
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They drank coffee,
sang folk songs,
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and restated their proposals.
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Finally, the university agreed
to more of their demands.
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The hunger strike
and protest were over!
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Before the university
could go back on their word,
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dozens of faculty, students,
and staff signed a letter
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petitioning them
to take real action.
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Within a few short days,
Roberto Hernández and his peers
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announced the creation
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of a Spanish Speaking
Outreach Institute.
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It was the first of many steps
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in improving
educational opportunities
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for the city's
Latino population.
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Roberto Hernández
had a big heart,
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but the Latino activism
in Milwaukee
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during the 1960s and '70s
was even bigger.
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It wasn't about just one person,
one group, or even one state.
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United by shared cultures
and struggles,
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Latinos developed a network
of support
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spanning from Texas
to Wisconsin and beyond.
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From agricultural work
to civil rights activism,
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their labors helped nourish
the entire country
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and strengthened
their communities.
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The progress they made
is a reminder
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of just how powerful we all are
when we take action together.
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[singing in Spanish]