Her first arrest, which would become one of many, occurred when Emma Tenayuca was 16 years old. Born into a Comanche family in South Texas in 1916, the Depression took its toll on those around her, and it was at this time she saw first-hand the suffering of low-class workers, often with the help of her grandfather, who read newspapers with her and took her to rallies. While in high school, activism for labor rights became her lifelong passion. While working as an elevator operator, she founded two international ladies’ garment workers unions and was highly involved in both the Worker’s Alliance of America and Woman’s League for Peace and Freedom.
She organized large-scale strikes against the injustices in the labor sphere and was a key figure in one of the most famous conflicts of Texas labor history–the 1938 Pecan Shellers Strike at the Southern Pecan Shelling Company. During the strike, thousands of mostly female workers at over 130 plants protested a wage reduction and were gassed, arrested, and jailed. After 37 days, the strike eventually ended when the city’s pecan operators agreed to arbitration. This strike is considered by many historians to be the first significant victory in the Mexican-American struggle for political and economic equality in the United States.