Soledad "Chole" Alatorre (born 1927) is a Chicana labor activist who was active in the Greater Los Angeles Area, and is known for her work with the Centro de Acción Social Autónomo (CASA) and for her advocacy of civil rights among the Chicano community.
Contents
Personal life
Alatorre was born in the state of San Luis Potosi in Mexico, in 1927, into a large family with many women. Her father was an officer in the union of railway workers. Alatorre, her sister, and her husband migrated to the United States and moved to the Greater Los Angeles Area when she was 27 years old. There she began work as a model for bathing suits, for a factory which made pieces for Rosemary Reid. She also worked as a supervisor in the same factory, and her husband worked in the garment industry as well. She separated from her husband in the late 1950s, and never had any children: she spent most of her time with her work in labor organizing. She lived with her sisters, who also worked with her.
Labor organizing
Her work in the clothes-manufacturing company led Alatorre to build connection to other workers in the garment industry. Known for her ability to build personal relationships, she became a liaison between the garment workers' union and the industry that they worked for. She became further involved with labor organizing, and worked with several unions, including the Teamsters, the United Auto Workers, the Maritime Union, and the United Farm Workers. During this period, she also worked in a pharmaceutical plant.
Through her work with labor organizations, she met fellow activist Bert Corona. The two of them made connections to the Hermandad Mexicana Nacional (HMN), which was at the time one of the only organizations working for Mexican-Americans that was also run by Mexican-Americans. The HMN was facing difficulties due to the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee, so Corona and Alatorre took charge of the organization, and in 1968 moved it to Los Angeles, where its local chapters came to be known as Centro de Acción Social Autónomo, or CASA. CASA began to work for the rights of immigrant workers, and also provided them social services, including legal help and education. It also advocated for policies in their favor.
Other activism
In 1977 CASA worked with several other Latino organizations to advocate for amnesty to undocumented immigrants and against sanctions applied to employers who hired them. Alatorre and Corona constituted a more radical voice within that movement, arguing that undocumented immigrants had earned the right to work in the US, and that they ought to be welcomed. This stance was unusual relative to the views of most Mexican-American organizations, which supported a policy of "Americanization". Alatorre played a significant role within CASA, being responsible for administrative tasks and choosing to remain largely “behind the scenes”. Through her work with CASA and elsewhere, Alatorre became known as a prominent activist for civil rights.
In 1968, Corona and Alatorre also became involved in Robert Kennedy's primary campaign for California's Senate seat. A few years later Alatorre and Corona were responsible for leading a change in the way the US Democratic Party perceived issues of immigration, partly through their work with labor unions.