sheriff and the company representatives stared at the women in the picket line, uncertain how to respond. A few days later they regained their composure, wrangled an arrest order from the local county attorney and sent the sheriff’s deputies to arrest the picketers, who were all women, many with children. The deputies threw gas grenades into the crowd of women, then charged at them. There was bitter resistance; according to the deputies, “we keep arresting them but they keep moving in …” Fifty-three women were ultimately arrested and jailed, where they proceeded “to raise hell the entire day. The deputies jailed the children as well as the women and the conditions were intolerable. According to the Sheriff they made the ‘worst mess.’ He released all 53 along with their children that evening. The following morning they were at the picket line as a national scandal erupted.”21
Rosie the Riveter did what she was told on behalf of the United States of America, always depicted as a smiling, red-cheeked, young white woman beloved by everyone. Esperanza the Picketer was brown, spoke English with an accent, did not do what the authorities asked, was angry, demanded equality, and acted on behalf of a union that had been declared communist by the red-baiters in Congress. Women like her were not conforming to the preachings of the Americanizers.
ANMA launched a national campaign in support of the strike. By 1951 ANMA had locals throughout the southwest. ANMA adopted Mine Mill’s method of organizing families, as Bert Corona, the northern California lead organizer, explained: “In Oakland for example we had about one hundred and fifty families. In San José, about four hundred families joined ANMA … we built quite a chapter in San Francisco organizing between three hundred and four hundred families. ANMA supported equal pay for equal work for Mexicans, and it supported equal rights for men and women.’’ He recalls, “Several ANMA chapters had strong women leaders. In San José, for example, Dora Sanchez … was the heart and soul of ANMA. The INS tried to deport her husband … In San Francisco key women leaders were Aurora Santana de Dawson, Elvira Romo, and Abigail Alvarez.” ANMA was fiercely proud of its Mexican heritage, it was uncompromising in its support for liberation movements throughout Latin America, and it displayed an internationalist, pan-Latin perspective (the Guatemalan consul in northern California attended meetings to describe how the US government was trying to overthrow the democratically elected administration of President Jacobo Arbenz). It participated in demonstrations supporting the Cuban Liberation movement headed by a then obscure guerrilla leader named Fidel Castro, it opposed nuclear armament and supported the peace movement. ANMA’s reach was impressive, and its support for the strike meant that this industrial action would soon be a cause célèbre in Latino communities across the southwest.22
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