Emma Tenayuca

and the 1938 San Antonio Pecan Shellers Strike

Immersive curriculum 5th grade and up

Watch Now in Spanish
Watch Now in English

 


Download the transcript and translation here.

Website and resource portal for the 12-minute film based on
the feature documentary A Strike and an Uprising (in Texas)

Thank you for visiting this page!  It is a living document and work-in-progress.    The community is invited to submit additional links or information to this project.

 Reviews and Screenings |  Map of Historic Locations  |  For Educators |  Hear Emma Speak  |  Oral Histories  |  Photo Gallery  |  Behind the Scenes  | 

Reviews and Screenings

Emma Tenayuca and the 1938 San Antonio Pecan Shellers Strike was broadcast throughout Texas as part of the 29th season of the PBS (KERA/Dallas) series Frame of Mind. The film won the audience award for Hecho en Tejas at the Cine Las Americas Film Festival. It played at the re-opening of Resistencia/Red Salmon Arts and was part of the George Washington Carver Museum film series “That’s My Face.” It was a finalist at the San Antonio Film Festival.

Map of Historic Locations

Click on the map to learn about the key historic locations in San Antonio, Texas related to Emma Tenayuca and the Pecan Shellers Strike.

Hear Emma Speak

Select excerpts of Emma Tenayuca from the film A Strike and An Uprising (in Texas!)

Oral Histories

Interviews of pecan shellers.

Photo Gallery

Select photos from the film.

Which labor leader would you be?

They will give you citizenship if you testify against a labor leader. You say you will not be “a free woman with a mortgaged soul.” You know you will be deported.
Luisa Moreno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shQwffsOziM
You are elected by 10,000 pecan shellers as their spokesperson during their famous strike, even though you never shelled pecans yourself. They call you "the passionate one."
Emma Tenayuca
You clean the house of the university president and 3 buildings. The boss tells you to clean the male student bathrooms. You refuse even though you know you'll be fired.
Annie Mae Carpenter
You move to Texas to support the pecan shellers. Your future husband calls Texas "a fierce awful place." A thousand workers come to your wedding. The groom, a union organizer, is late. You marry him anyway.
Latane Lambert
You work in a cafeteria and you spill the Italian dressing. You mop it three times but your boss fires you anyway. You go back to work at the regular time and pretend nothing happened.
Shirley Stegall

Behind the Scenes

About the production team behind the film and immersive experience / educational toolkit.

Lead Characters

Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero
Analuisa Renovato
Frida Exilda Renovato
Annabelle Ordoyne
en comunidad con Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero
Analuisa Renovato
Frida Exilda Renovato
Annabelle Ordoyne

Filmmaker

Anne Lewis

Anne Lewis

Documentary Films
Visit AnneLewis.org

Producer/Site Developer

Laura Varela

Laura Varela

Filmmaker / Artist
Visit VarelaFilm.org

 

 

This Project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and AKR The Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation