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Petra Guerra

Petra Guerra

Organizations

Idaho Migrant Council, Utah Migrant Council, Vinceremos Brigade, Workers World, MEChA

Location

Mission, TX

Biography

Petra Guerra was born in Pharr, Texas, to a family of migrant farm workers. She stopped attending school in fourth grade to help her family work in the fields full time and eventually settled in Utah. There she was enlisted by Vista volunteers to leave field work for a job at a hospital and eventually found a job advocating for farm worker rights through the Utah Migrant Council. Guerra was recruited to work for the Idaho Migrant Council, where she established the Migrant Council’s statewide daycare program. Guerra briefly returned to the Valley, where she earned her GED and attended classes at Colegio Jacinto Treviño and was part of their teatro program. Guerra spent twenty years in New York City where she was involved in the Workers World Party and the Venceremos Brigade.

Audio Clips

Interviewed by Jennifer R. Nájera on March 3, 2023 in Edinburg, Texas

Guerra recounts growing up as a migrant farm worker to getting promoted to director of the Utah Migrant Council Child Development Centers.

Guerra describes her activities with teatro as a young adult and how teatro influenced her politics. She also tells a story about confronting the Utah governor about a daycare license.

Guerra recalls her nontraditional educational trajectory, joining the Workers of the World Party while in Austin, Texas, and moving to New York.

Digital Archive

Guerra wrote about a UFW-organized grape boycott for Workers World in 1987.

Guerra wrote about a UFW-organized grape boycott for Workers World in 1987.

Guerra was a leader in a student protest to increase cultural diversity at Washington State University in 1997.

Guerra was a leader in a student protest to increase cultural diversity at Washington State University in 1997.

Biographical profile of Petra Guerra as a doctoral student at Washington State University in 1999.

Biographical profile of Petra Guerra as a doctoral student at Washington State University in 1999.

In 2003, Guerra completed her dissertation, entitled “Sex-Abstinence Only or Sex-Abstinence Plus Programs in the Schools: An Analysis of Effectiveness”.

In 2003, Guerra completed her dissertation, entitled “Sex-Abstinence Only or Sex-Abstinence Plus Programs in the Schools: An Analysis of Effectiveness”.

Guerra joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2011 as Associate Director of Chican@ and Latin@ Studies Program.

Guerra joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2011 as Associate Director of Chican@ and Latin@ Studies Program.