'Adios Amor: The Search for Maria Moreno,' explores life of Latina farm workers union leader

Years before Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta began organizing poor farm workers in California, a woman named Maria Moreno sought to sign up impoverished farm workers for a fledgling union. The Mexican American mother of 12 coordinated rallies, recruited members in isolated areas and inspired others to demand a living wage.

By 1961, her work was so admired that she spoke at national union convention. Then, Moreno disappeared from the public eye.

"Adios Amor: The Search for Maria Moreno" on PBS examines the life of the obscure labor leader who galvanized poor agricultural workers during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Moreno's work helped set up a farm workers movement that later would capture the nation's heart, but her whereabouts later in life had remained a mystery to those who encountered her.

Mario Moreno speaking to some farm workers. AP

Laurie Coyle, the film's director and producer, said the idea for the project began after she found photos of Moreno tucked away in an archive.

With little information to go by, Coyle began investigating Moreno's life. Born in Karnes City, Texas, to a Mexican immigrant father and Mescalero Apache mother, Moreno and her family had been migrant farm workers for years, following the crop in Utah, California, Arizona and Texas.

She started her union activism following an April 1958 flood that forced many farm workers into near starvation. One of her sons went blind temporarily due to starvation, reporters and family members said.

She became active in the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, a fledgling union sponsored by the AFL-CIO, gaining broad support from Oklahoma migrants, Filipino American workers and Latino pickers.

"It was so unusual for a woman like her back then to be in this position," Coyle said.

Maria Moreno sleeping before one of her speaking engagements. AP

But union infighting and jealously eventually forced her out in 1962. Documents show an AFL-CIO official accused her of misspending and she was forced out of leadership.

"She wasn't afraid to say whatever she had to say," said Gilbert Padilla, co-founder for the United Farm Workers. "I assume that's why they got rid of her."

When Cesar Chavez began looking into forming his own farm workers union, he declined to ask Moreno to join his effort, seeing her as "big mouth" and possibly rival, Coyle said, citing a letter and interviews.

Coyle said Chavez probably viewed her Pentecostal beliefs in contrast to his Catholic upbringing. "There may have been some sexism involved, too," Coyle said.

Moreno's children say she left California and eventually became a Pentecostal minister along the U.S.-Mexico border in San Luis, Arizona, and sought to transform society one soul at a time instead of focusing on systemic change. Moreno died in 1989, largely forgotten.

The film, a presentation of VOCES, is slated to premiere Friday on most PBS stations.

Agence France-Presse