Lucy Delgado, Mothers of East LA founder was 87

Delgado is in the blue shirt behind the T in Mothers.

Lucy Delgado, the founder of the Mothers of East Los Angeles activist group that formed to fight construction of a prison in Boyle Heights, died on April 11. She lived her entire life in Boyle Heights, the Eastern Group Publications say.

She is being remembered as a fierce leader who organized East Los Angeles area mothers during the 1980s to fight the construction of a prison in Boyle Heights.

Delgado is credited with helping to create a movement among regular people who were fed up with their neighborhood being the dumping ground for the public projects not wanted in other communities.

"There were weekly Monday night demonstrations ... hundreds of mothers along with their spouses and children would march up and down the Olympic Boulevard Bridge demanding that their voices be heard," states the MELA website, describing the anti-prison protests.

"The women would always wear scarves on their heads as a sign of peace, dignity and respect for their community."

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina said Delgado was an inspiration to all who fought against the proposed prison in East Los Angeles, including herself.

Delgago also promoted restoration of the Breed Street Shul and establishment of the Japanese-American National Museum in Little Tokyo. She was a founding member of the Boyle Heights Historical Society and the Breed Street Shul Preservation Committee. "Lucy was La Madre del Este Los Ángeles, the quintessential proud and loving mother of the Eastside, and, in the words of the Jewish tradition, an exemplary eyshet chayil, woman of valor," said Stephen Sass, chairman of the board for the Breed Street Shul Project.

More at the EGP website.