The deep, dark eyes tell stories filled with music and children, hardship and triumph.

They see and share and call forth strength.

These eyes belong to Dolores Huerta.

They also fought against the bracero guest worker program and the use of dangerous pesticides.

The list of battles and victoriesis a long one.

During an exclusive interview, Huerta spoke of motherhood and activism, jazz and justice.

Q: What sparked your activism?

A: My dad was a volunteer union organizer.

He was very well respected and a member of the [New Mexico] state legislature.

My dad didn’t tell me the story, Jos Montoya did.

I was lobbying Jos Montoya in Congress and I told him that my father had been a state legislator.

He asked, “What’s your dad’s name?

“and I said “Juan Fernandez.”

He said, “Oh, I remember him!”

My mother was a very wonderful woman.

But she saved enough money to establish a restaurant.

That was good for her because we were able to live in the hotel.

All the family lived there.

It was a 70-room hotel, a real big one.

We kids had to do all the work.

I think my mother was a feminist for her time.

My older brother and my younger brother and I split up the chores evenly.

We had to do dishes.

All of us equally.

So my brothers learned that growing up.

My mother never made me do anything for my brothers, like serve them.

Not in our family.

She didn’t have my personality.

She was one of these very quiet people who just did a lot.

And she was a leader in the community.

She was one of the founders of the first Latino chambers of commerce.

She was just a doer.

If you see somebody who needs something, you do it.

Second thing: You don’t talk about what you did.

Once you talk about what you did you take the grace of God away from that act.

And you never take any money for anything.

And that’s wonderful because I think that really insulates you against corruption.

Q: Who knows you best, besides yourself?

A: Probably my kids.

Because they’ve been with me and I think I communicate a lot.

We don’t have the traditional Latino relationship, you know, where you have to be super respectful.

We get into it, we argue, we discuss.

They’ll argue with me: “You’re too busy doing that.”

And I’ll get into it with them, about what their lives are about.

Q: You have 11 children.

You’ve said you were not meant to be a housewife; you were meant to be an activist.

How has being a mother shaped your views?

A: And a grandmother and a great-grandmother.

And my gifts are not in the homemaking area, unfortunately.

It is a problem, but I think my kids turned out pretty well.

And I think that’s the biggest thing I gave my children.

They had a lot of hardships we were very poor and never had any money.

Working for the union, all we had were our subsistence rent and food.

They never had good clothes or toys.

I do regret not being able to provide them with music lessons.

My son Ricky’s very talented, but I was never able to give him any music lessons.

I did have violin and dancing lessons growing up.

We need to be activists; women need to be in decision-making roles.

Our kids need to be not only safe, but also educated and safe.

Q: Your daughter, Juana, is bisexual.

Was that a cause you always fought for?