Latino rights icon Dolores Huerta to speak at NIU next month

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Latino rights leader Dolores Huerta, who with Cesar Chavez co-founded the United Farm Workers union, will visit Northern Illinois University next month to speak on the labor movement, civic engagement and the importance of the Latino vote in the upcoming election. Huerta will deliver an address, “The Need for Social Change: From the Fight in the Fields to the Halls of Congress,” at 7 p.m. April 16, in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center. The event is open to the public, according to a news release from NIU. The mother of 11 children, Huerta has been arrested more than 20 times for participation in civil disobedience protests, according to the news release. Her accomplishments include: •Negotiating the first collective bargaining agreement between farm workers and an agricultural enterprise; •Advancing legislation that allowed the right to vote in Spanish, and the right of individuals to take the drivers license examination in their native language; and •Helping to secure unemployment benefits for farm workers.