At an April 19 assembly, Huerta took questions from River Glen students on everything from the size of her family--she has 11 children--to why she and Cesar Chavez, with whom she founded the United Farmworkers Union in 1962, chose the eagle as the union's emblem. The answer was the bird represents indigenous people.

As befitted River Glen's bilingual immersion program, Huerta conducted her question-and-answer session entirely in Spanish. The Willow Glen school is part of the San Jose Unified School District.

Huerta told the K-8 students that before she and Chavez formed the union, migrant farm workers earned about $5 a week. Huerta, a teacher in Stockton, was moved to social activism by her students, many of whom came to class barefoot and hungry and often missed school to work with their parents in the fields.

In 1965, Huerta helped organize the famous Delano Grape Strike, in which 5,000 workers walked off their jobs, and directed the subsequent grape boycott. Following the strike, Huerta became the United Farmworkers Union's first contract negotiator.

Despite some serious health problems, time hasn't slowed Huerta down. In 2002 she marched 165 miles from Merced to Sacramento to convince then-Gov. Gray Davis to sign a bill granting farm workers increased bargaining power. At the River Glen assembly, Huerta said she was one of about 600 marchers when the group left Merced; by the time the marchers reached Sacramento, their ranks had swelled to about 10,000.

Huerta told the River Glen community she wants justice not just for farm workers but for all who perform manual labor.

"They're the most important people in the world," she said.

Teacher Wendy Greenfield, a former union volunteer who helped organize the Dolores Huerta Foundation, asked the labor leader to speak at the school. The foundation's goal is to train leaders to build community organizations around causes and issues specific to their neighborhoods.

After Huerta spoke, students sang songs and performed skits about Huerta and Chavez and led the assembly in chants of "Sí, se puede" ("yes, you can"). Foundation executive fellow Timoteo Vasquez said it was good to see that students understood the underlying values of the union's rallying cry.

"It's always nice to see someone who's had experience with the union," Vasquez said. "That's coming through here."