FTV 0506 Francis Emley's "El Cortito" 1974 by PacificaRadioArchives published on 2016-01-25T17:51:30Z On this edition of From The Vault we pay tribute to Francis Emley, a social activist and Pacifica Radio KPFA producer who passed away December 1, 2015 at the age of 84. Here at the Pacifica Radio Archives we honor Frances Emley by presenting one of her programs El Cortito : the story of the legal battle to ban the use of the short hoe on throughout the farms of California. This program, produced in 1974, is the perfect example of Pacifica’s concept of Radio for the common good of the Community. Francis selected a topic that affects us all: The work that puts food on our plates. She focused on an aspect of farming that few of us are aware of, but had horrible consequences to the farm worker… stooping in the fields unnecessarily for up to 16 hours a day that commonly resulted in spine and lower back injuries. Thanks to the space that Pacifica provided and the work of Frances Emley and her colleagues including Paul Richards, her efforts resulted in a change in Public Policy. In 1975 The California Supreme Court banned the use of the Short Hoe in farm work. For more information or to donate to the Pacifica Radio Archives to help us continue our work of preserving our 55,000 tape collection go to www.FromTheVaultRadio.org or www.PacificaRadioArchives.org Genre FrancisEmley