DescriptionAlberta Gonzalez was born in Puerto Rico in 1914. In July 1950, with economic conditions in Puerto Rico deterioration and viable opportunity for single women in the work force, Gonzalez migrated to Mullica Hill, NJ, and moved in with her migrant farm worker sister at the age of 36. She began work at a farm owned by Jim Lernner. Her job entailed cooking three meals daily for 50 other workers, preparing clothing, working in the fields and cleaning. She was paid 60 cents an hour and stayed with this job for 34 years. Alberta Gonzalez made it her mission to provide better conditions for the migrant workers that she interacted with every day. Because of her advocacy the camp in which she worked was outfitted with better water facilities, kitchen utensils, a cooking stove, a heater and better living conditions for the farm workers. Gonzalez also acted as a nurse to sick workers and introduced the first informal savings bank for migrant farm workers at the camp.
When Jim Lernner's camp closed in 1979, Gonzalez, her husband, and their three children were transferred to a different camp. Gonzalez found conditions at the new camp so appalling that she and the other workers staged what became the first Puerto Rican migrant workers strike in New Jersey.