Google’s Doodle for the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month featured Luisa Moreno, a labor organizer, journalist, and activist of Guatemalan descent in the United States.
Google claims that Guatemala City-based artist Juliet Mendez is responsible for the featured artwork on their homepage today. Moreno is shown in the artwork clasping hands with members of the groups she has represented.
Today's #HispanicHeritageMonth #GoogleDoodle celebrates Guatemalan American civil rights and fair labor activist Luisa Moreno who dedicated her life to unifying Spanish-speaking communities and organizing workers.
Learn more about her story —> https://t.co/dXrd0G9oFV pic.twitter.com/1OB3dJJWZs
— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) September 15, 2023
Hispanic or Latino people make up at least 32% of Arizona’s population, and the entire state and many others around the United States observe the month of September as Hispanic Heritage Month.
An introduction to Luisa Moreno is provided here.
How Else Do People Today Honor Luisa?
- The National Museum of American History has an exhibit dedicated to Moreno.
- The Brooklyn Museum has a display of Moreno’s work.
Who is Luisa Moreno?
Moreno was born on August 30, 1907, in Guatemala City. He passed away on November 4, 1992, also in Guatemala.
She moved back to Guatemala when she was an adolescent from Oakland, California, where she had lived as a toddler when her family immigrated there. Women in Guatemala were not allowed to enroll in colleges or universities when they returned. Moreno responded by forming an advocacy group for women’s access to higher education.
Subsequently, Moreno established himself in Mexico City as a journalist. El Vendedor de Cocuyos (The Seller of Fireflies) was released in 1927, her poetry collection written when she was living in Mexico.
In 1928, she uprooted and made the trip to the Big Apple. She worked as a seamstress to support her family during the Great Depression, and it was then that she realized the importance of labor reform. In 1935, she became a professional organizer for the American Federation of Labor.
In 1941, she was recognized for her contributions to the labor movement by being elected vice president of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America.
She established the first national Latino civil rights assembly, the National Congress of Spanish-Speaking Peoples, in 1938.
She was threatened with deportation by what is now known as the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service until she testified against other union officials. She refused to cooperate and flew back to South America. Moreno, however, persisted in her efforts to unionize employees in Mexico, Cuba, and Guatemala despite this setback.
What Was Moreno’s Real Name?
Moreno’s birth certificate states that she was given the name Blanca Rosa López Rodrguez. She opted to conceal the fact that she was born into a wealthy Guatemalan family by adopting a new surname.
With the above link, you may read about the relationships of other celebrities: