Born: 1914, United States
Died: 1996
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
Born in Puerto Rico in 1914, Alberta Gonzalez moved to Mullica Hill, New Jersey in 1950. With the deterioration of economic conditions in Puerto Rico limiting options for women in particular, she and her sister relocated and began working on a farm. She was paid 60 cents per hour to cook three meals per day for 50 other workers, in addition to preparing clothes, cleaning and working in the fields. She would continue to work there for 34 years. During this time, she fought for better conditions for the workers, resulting in better water facilities, kitchen utensils, a cooking stove, heater and improved living conditions. She also nursed sick workers and created an informal savings bank for the camp workers. When this camp closed in 1979, she was transferred to a different camp with her husband and their three children. The conditions at the new camp were so bad that she and the other workers staged the first Puerto Rican workers strike in New Jersey.
Source:
“Portrait of Alberta Gonzalez.” Welcome to RUcore – Rutgers University Community Repository, Rutgers, https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/3522/.