Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Collective

Alicia Escalante

Don’t ever underestimate the power of a woman.

Alicia Escalante was born in El Paso Texas, in 1933 to what she describes as a traditional family. She was the second oldest of seven children, and she shared an intense bond with her mother. After 15 years of marriage, Escalante’s mother decided to divorce her father due to his infidelity, alcoholism and abuse. At the divorce court proceedings, her father was granted custody of all seven children, because of her mother’s lack of employment and housing.

Ana Luisa Cardona

That probably was influencing why my parents were being so protective because it was the 60s, and things were changing, and they didn't understand this world, or me, and why I was beginning to do the things I was doing.

Ana Luisa Cardona was born on June 11, 1950 in the Bronx, NY. Her Puerto Rican parents raised Cardona with her brother in a traditionally Jewish neighborhood that slowly evolved to a multi-ethnic minority space. In elementary school, Cardona was placed in a special education class and tracked into lower ability-level classes because she was shy, but she soon grew out of her shyness thanks to dance classes. Her mother ensured that Cardona’s first language was English and that Cardona had access to equitable education by enrolling her in parochial school.

Angela "Angie" Reyes

For me, you have two choices when you're faced with things like that [racism] growing up: you either internalize it and become ashamed of who you are...or you become radicalized. I was raising four children as a single parent in the community when I was going to funerals for kids every other week...every other week.

Angela Reyes was born on October 2,1954 and has lived and served in the community of Southwest Detroit ever since. Throughout her time from elementary to high school, Angela recounts coming face-to-face with prejudicial attitudes from classmates and teachers, experiences that forever marked her own developing, personal identity as a Mexican woman with indigenous roots.

Anna Nieto-Gomez

Where it is hostile there's always a little self-hate...always...because you're just projecting out. So, I guess that is the healing part.

Anna NietoGomez was born on March 30, 1946 and was raised on the west side of San Bernadino County, California. NietoGomez recalls that growing up in a segregated community made her aware of racism from an early age. She also recounts growing up in a home where power dynamics between her mother and father were more pragmatic and egalitarian. It was these early insights and environments that would propel NietoGomez into a powerful journey of activism and revolutionary scholarly work.

Barbara Carrasco

I learned at that early age that the word 'no,' or rejection, you can really turn it around if you're determined to get some place.

Barbara Carrasco holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master’s of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts. She has been a muralist and artist in various media since her childhood.

Blanca Vargas

When I became a citizen in 1972 it’s like somebody put a little fire under me and said, ‘Blanca, you’re going to help other people become citizens as well.’

Blanca Vargas was born in Durango, Mexico on a rare snowy day; this inspired her name. Blanca spent her childhood in Durango, where she was competitive in sports, danced ballet folkorico and helped her father at his pharmacy. From him she learned the concept of helping others, as he often helped his clients that couldn’t afford badly needed medications. Blanca also learned British English from a private teacher at Escuela America during her youth.

Carmen Tafolla

The arts were crucial. They woke us up and they spoke to our hearts and they’re the true revolution.

Carmen Tafolla was born in San Antonio, Texas on July 29, 1951 to a family with a history in San Antonio going back to the early eighteenth century. A resident of the West Side Barrio of the city, Carmen had a happy childhood immersed in Mexican American culture but was also keenly aware of the discrimination and injustice that those in her neighborhood faced. As part of a long history of neglect by the city, her neighborhood had a severe lack of books and literature, and Carmen was extremely eager to get her hands on anything and everything that she could read.

Cecilia Burciaga

There is history, it didn’t just appear when you appeared. But maybe that’s what my generation is about, we are the reganionas.

Cecilia has a BA in Teaching Credential from California State University – Fullerton and a Master’s Degree in Policy Studies in Higher Education from the University of California – Riverside. Some doctoral course work was completed at the University of La Verne. After moving to Washington, D.C., in year, Cecilia became a Foreign Service Intern for the U.S. Information Agency and a Program Officer for the Interagency Committee on Mexican-American Affairs. She also worked a Commissioner for the US Commission On Civil Rights, and as a teacher in the Chino School District.

Dr. Elena Mulcahy

I’m not interested in being remembered, I’m interested in having the work survive.

Dr. Elena Mulcahy was born on the South side of Chicago, Illinois on May 24, 1937 as Elena Berezaluce. Her parents were immigrants from Tabasco, Mexico. Although she grew up with her cousins on Chicago’s South side, her family lived in an area where there were few other Mexicans. Growing up bilingual, at an early age Elena not only helped translate for her primarily Spanish-speaking parents, but also for other community members and her fellow students and teachers.

Elena Herrada

I really wanted to have a better understanding of the people that I had grown up around and the systems that I had seen oppress people.

Elena Herrada was born on March 28, 1957 in Detroit, Michigan. She attended Wayne State University in Detroit, becoming involved with activism and Chicano Boricua studies. She graduated in 1980 with a degree in Criminal Justice and a major in Chicano Boricua Studies. Her motivation to graduate partially stemmed from her grandfather, who attended her graduation wearing full revolutionary regalia, shouting, “Viva Herrada!”

Emily Martinez

My parents are the ones who taught me what I know.

Emily Martinez was born in Texas in 1939, and moved to Blissfield, Michigan as a child. The oldest of ten children, Martinez came from a family with a long history of working as migrant farmers. Although her grandparents and parents grew up following the crop from La Feria, Texas to northern Michigan, Martinez’s parents ultimately settled in Blissfield in 1948 to raise their family. In transitioning from being migrant farmworkers to seasonal workers, Martinez’s family experienced racial discrimination in school, in attempting to purchase a home in a white neighborhood, and at work.

Enriqueta Vasquez

I remember I raised my hand right away [and said], ‘My mother said that they stole all that land from Mexico!’

Enriqueta Vasquez was born in 1930 in Cheraw, Colorado to a large family near the farm labor camps. Her parents were very political, and her mother was a curandera and midwife for the community. Her first experiences with racism took place at school: all the Mexican American children were segregated to one room and taught by only one teacher. The students were punished for speaking Spanish and there were separate swings for the Mexican American and Anglo children. But Enriqueta found her activist voice at a young age.

Frances Sandoval Melendez

Gloria Arellanes

I understand my power as a woman because I give life, I am a teacher, I am a nurturer, I provide spirituality teachings, and when we collectively come together as women, it's such a powerful thing.

Gloria Arellanes was born in East Los Angeles in 1946, but for the majority of her life, she has resided in El Monte, California, living in the same home for over fifty years. Her father was a first generation Mexican-American whose family migrated to the United States from Chihuahua, Mexico, and her mother was a Tongva Native American. In the 1950s and 1960s, El Monte experienced extreme racial tension, and Arellanes witnessed race riots throughout her high school years. She attended college briefly before choosing to drop out, pursuing travel and more life experience.

Jane Garcia

I had a choice in becoming politically active in one party or another, and I chose this. I had no choice in the rest of the stuff in my life, but I had a choice here.

Jane Garcia was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1948. She attended public and parochial schools, and is a graduate of Wayne State Community College. She is a licensed social worker, a former cosmetologist, and a constant advocate for positive social change in Detroit. Garcia has spent decades working for the United States Bureau of the Census, focusing on the Midwestern Hispanic population.

Juana Gonzales

Chicana feminism is to be yourself.

Juana Maria Gonzales’s involvement with the Chicana movement started in her hometown of Mercedes, Texas. Born in 1948, Gonzales was the second oldest of eleven children raised in a strict Catholic family in south Texas. From an early age, her family dynamics made her aware of gender disparities and how her identity as a woman changed the way she moved in the world. This realization propelled Gonzales to become interested in women’s issues such as the concept of autonomy and rape culture.

Maria Anita Guadiana

Nobody knew that there was any difference among each other. We all lived in the same neighborhood, we all lived at the same level of poverty.

Currently a social worker in the Cesar Chavez Academy High School in Detroit, Michigan, Maria Anita Guadiana’s involvement with activism and social justice started young with the help of her father, Jose Guadiana. Born in May 8th, 1948, she was the only daughter to Jose Guadiana and Maria Guadiana who had four boys before Guadiana was born.

Maria Jimenez

We were all very focused on the building of the community power, as opposed to winning the position.

Maria D. Jimenez Flores was born in Coahuila, Mexico. Her parents, Raul Gomez Jimenez and Elva Flores, decided to immigrate to the United States when Maria was about six years old. Her paternal grandfather, Jaime Jimenez, was the first of her family to migrate to the United States. Maria and her family immigrated into Houston, Texas on May 9, 1957. Maria began to understand social inequality from a young age. With the influence of her maternal grandfather, Ramon Flores Ortega, and her father’s involvement in activism and social movements, Maria became interested in social justice.

Marie "Keta" Miranda

We could consider ourselves Chicana and feminist... This was our legitimation. This was our moment to be understood. That to be feminist was not to be vendida.

Marie “Keta” Miranda was born in Los Angeles, California during a time of— in her words — “urban removal,” not “urban renewal.” Her mother was very involved in church organizing activities, from charities to fiestas. It is through her mother that Keta understood the church to be a place for women where they can “laugh out loud and have a good time with each other.” Her mother was a housewife putting in a lot of labor and love raising eight children, six girls and two boys. Her father worked first as a general laborer, then a postal carrier, and then a tile-setter.

Martha Cotera

My upbringing had a strong dose of progressive politics.

Martha Cotera was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1938. Cotera describes her upbringing as having a strong dose of progressive politics as a result of her grandparents’ interest in Mexican politics. In 1946, Cotera and her mother immigrated to El Paso, Texas. Cotera was reluctant to move and encountered racist policies in both elementary school and high school while in Texas. Despite these challenges, she describes herself as a “total overachiever” in high school as she was a member of the Writing club, English club, and editor of the school newspaper.

Nancy Alicia De Los Santos Reza

My mission is to be a part of elevating the image of Latinas in all media. And to me, that means reflecting a realistic image.

Nancy Alicia De Los Santos Reza was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents were born in Texas and migrated to the big city after World War II. Nancy’s father, Nicolas, served in the Navy. Her mother, Micaela, was a stay-at-home mother and housewife, raising six children. Their own negative experience with speaking Spanish in Texas schools, led to the decision for their children to speak English only.

Olivia "Evey" Chapa

People heard the call and came from everywhere. People in these tents and buildings... wherever, teaching the kids so they wouldn't get behind because they walked out. Amazing. It's amazing what people will do when they have a feel for it. El corazón.

Olivia “Evey” Chapa, a lifelong resident of Texas, was born in Alice. Growing up, her supportive family created the foundation for the love she has for other people. She comes from a financially stable family; her grandfather was a banker, her father a police officer, and her mother was a saleslady. The work ethic of her mother and father was well-developed.

Olivia Puentes Reynolds

I was making the declaration about not just being a Mexican American. I was a Chicana. It had nothing to do with what other people said, it is my declaration and it came from me.

Olivia Puentes Reynolds sits for her interview with a guitar on her knee. Hers is a story of music and mythology, her activism inspired by poetry. Reynolds’ archive of health reports and radical newsletters is peppered with songs and drawings, complete with an entire _teatro frontera _booklet. Throughout her life, Reynolds combined art, music, and writing to stand up for social change.

Rita Sanchez

In order to complete my Ph.d at UCSD and get tenure at SDSU, I had three full time jobs: full time mother; full time grad student; and full time professor.

Rita Sanchez was born and brought up in San Bernardino, California, seventh of eleven children. Her parents and their parents were from New Mexico, which had been home to her family for generations. Her ancestors were, in her words, the “first mestizos,” because of intermarriage between Spanish and Indian. This history, Sanchez points out, was the beginning of her “Chicana coming-to-consciousness,” the pride in her heritage, a tradition that she has celebrated throughout her life.

Rose Mary Bombela-Tobias

I don’t want to just be a stewardess and just serve coffee – I want to be Lois Lane…

Rose Mary Bombela-Tobias was born in East Chicago, Indiana to Mexican migrants. After her father’s retirement from working in a steel mill while she was in grammar school, her family relocated to El Paso, Texas. There, she attended a Lithuanian school where she was one of the few Latinas. It was when she attended Urban High School, whose population was predominantly children of white military families, that she began noticing social politics. For example, she noted that as more Latino students enrolled in the high school, most were being placed in remedial courses.

Ruth Mojica-Hammer

Look for something to do, be involved, find a reason to exist!

As the Executive Director of Spanish Language Programming at a local Chicago TV station Ruth ‘Rhea’ Mojica-Hammer was also the first Mexican American woman to run for congressional office in the state of Illinois. Although she didn’t win, Rhea, went on to manage a successful campaign for the first Latina elected to public office in Illinois, Cook County Commissioner Irene Hernandez.

Sister Yolanda Tarango

For [Las] Hermanas, our goal was always to stay with people. Our goal was always to immerse ourselves with people.

From her beginnings as a girl who only spoke Spanish in east El Paso, Texas to becoming one of the most influential members of the Las Hermanas organization, Sister Yolanda Tarango is a proud Chicana feminist. She is the oldest of 7 children and started school in an “Anglo” Catholic school where she learned to speak English, but also experienced her first wave of institutionalized racism.

Sonia Lopez

My whole life was around my politics, my schoolwork and being a student was secondary.

Sonia Lopez was born in Sonora, Mexico. She immigrated at a young age to the United States, moving to Imperial Valley before settling in Calexico, a border town in California.

Virginia Gomez Oviedo

I think one of the biggest things is that they need to be unafraid, unafraid to look at things differently than how they’ve been told to look at things, whether it’s in school, even at home… do not be afraid, you’re going to probably take some criticism. You won’t think you know how to do it, but you’ll learn. It’s a fun path, living is fun.

Virginia Gomez Oviedo was born in 1945 on the Southeast side of Chicago. Her family first lived in the Maxwell Street area, a diverse port of entry for many of Chicago’s immigrants. When her family moved to the South Shore neighborhood, however, her community and school were not very diverse and the family faced racism. Facing this discrimination at a very young age fostered her political consciousness and activism.

Virginia Martinez

I’m not a secretary, I’m an attorney.

Virginia Martinez is a significant figure in the Chicana feminist movement, a Chicago-native Latina attorney, and an advocate for women and children. Martinez was changing the world from an early age. She went against her family and society’s standards when she applied to law school and became one of the first Latinas to be licensed to practice law in Illinois. When she was in law school, she was one of the founders of the Latino Law Student Association.

Yolanda Alaniz

I am a socialist feminist because I strongly believe that everybody can someday be equal and that we can end the oppression that we as 3rd World Women as well as other oppressed groups face.

Yolanda Alaniz was born in Brownsville, Texas and raised in Sunnyside, Washington in the Yakima Valley where she and her family worked as farmworkers. Tired of earning very low wages, her mother organized rallies along side other farm workers and most notably union leader Caesar Chavez to protest the unjust conditions and unfair wages many workers faced.

Yreina Doreen Cervántez

With your passion, you can find your place in the world.

Yreina Cervántez was born on December 5th, 1952, in Garden City, Kansas. She lived with her mother, father, and younger brother until she was seven. Cervántez remembers that at a very young age, she became aware that things were different for people of color. Fortunately, her parents provided Cervántez with a strong support system that helped her articulate the confusion and alienation she felt growing up in a racist environment. She grew up watching them support the development of the Civil Rights Movement, empathizing with the African American community in their town.