Librada Paz

Recipient of the 2012 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

“Sowing the Seeds of Justice: The Farmworker Struggle for Human Rights in New York State & Beyond”

When: October 3, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Where: Newton Hall, Room 201 SUNY-Geneseo Get directions

This November, Ms. Paz will become the 29th annual recipient of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award (laureates hail from 26 countries) for her work with the NYS-based Rural and Migrant Ministry, a 31-year-old statewide nonsectarian organization dedicated to the pursuit of rural justice. Born to a family of farmworkers in the village of San Juan Mixtepec (in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico), Librada and her sister emigrated to the U.S. at age 15 to join their brothers as migrant farmworkers in the fields of California, New York, and Florida. Fifteen years later she settled in New York State, obtained her immigration status, and left the fields to pursue a college degree and devote her life to the struggle to end the systemic violence and human rights violations faced by America’s migrant farmworkers. Ms. Paz will discuss her own experiences as a seasonal migrant farmworker, as well as her role in the rural justice movement.

RFK Center Board Member Martin Sheen had this to say about Ms. Paz: “Librada Paz has demonstrated undaunted courage in the face of overwhelming difficulty. A child laborer from age 15, she endured the 14-hour work days and endemic sexual assault, abuse, and racism that run rampant in our agricultural fields. And against all odds she graduated from college and has devoted herself to reversing these human right violations.”

This event is free and open to the public.
Sponsors: Office of the Provost, Department of History, & Geneseo Amnesty International
Contact: Jordan Kleiman, Department of History Email