Lupe Briseno

As the organizer of the Kitayama Carnation Strike, Lupe Briseño demonstrated the strength and power of Latina leadership in Colorado’s Labor Movement and set the stage for the Colorado Chicano Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s. Her story is an essential chapter in the history of Colorado, the evolution of Latina feminist leadership, and the struggle for Chicano civil rights.

The Kitayama Carnation Strike was one of the seminal events in 1969 that laid the foundation for the Chicano Movement in Colorado. The impact of the women-led social movement reverberated throughout the state within the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.

“Through our veil of tears, you could not see our broken hearts”. After Lupe Briseño and other Kitayama workers were sprayed with tear gas . “We stayed in the picket line to show our children and the community and everybody that we don’t have to be on our knees - we have to stand up and fight...