Maria L. de Hernández
María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández (29 July 1896 – 8 January 1986) was a Mexican-American rights activist.[1] She was born in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico. During the 1930s, she spoke publicly and demonstrated on behalf of Mexican Americans about their education in the United States.[2] She and her husband, Pedro Hernandez Barrera, founded Orden Caballeros de America on January 10, 1929.[3] She organized the Asociación Protectora de Madres in 1933. In 1970 she was active in the Raza Unida Party.[1]
Major life events
María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández was born in 1896 in Garza García near Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.[4] Her father was a professor. As a young adult, she lived in Monterrey, Mexico and worked as an elementary school teacher. She got married in 1915 at the age of 19 to Pedro Hernández Barrera. They were married in Hebbronville, Texas. They moved to San Antonio, in 1918, where they settled down, and their family eventually grew to include 10 children. The family owned and ran a grocery store and bakery. She fought for and wrote against the segregation, racial oppression, and poor education that the Mexican American children were receiving.
In 1929, the Hernández family helped to organize and found the Order of the Knights of America, or the Orden Caballeros de America. The Order of Knights of America was a committee dedicated to political and civil activists in order to help Mexican Americans as well as Mexican immigrants. They helped with matters including educational and social, but the organization was largely focused on educational matters. The main audience targeted by their organization was Mexican American business owners. However, they also set a goal to help both male and female school aged children.
In 1932, María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández was the first Mexican female announcer on the radio. In 1933, she helped open an association to help expecting mothers, which was known as Asociación Protectora de Madres.
In 1934, María, along with her husband and children, help to regulate an organization which helped to create safe places and better the education for the West Side Mexican Communities. It was named La Liga de Defensa Pro-Escolar. In connection to her radio career, she spoke to promote Council 16 of the League of United Latin American Citizens on a program called the "Voz de las Americas." The league became well regulated in December 1934. She supported the efforts of the league in 1940 and then again in 1947. During the years with the league, she helped to encourage the equality for all Mexican Americans, no matter where they were from or where they were living.
In 1938, María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández began working with the Pecan-Shellers' Strike, with a cause for women workers' rights. The strike had begun as a way for the women to obtain safer working conditions as well as increased salaries. In 1939, she was included in a group of women, who were able to visit the Mexican President, Lázaro Cárdenas. The women went to communicate the good will between the Mexicans from Mexico and the Mexican Americans found in the United States.
In 1945, "México y Los Cuatro Poderes Que Dirigén al Pueblo" was published. In the essay, it was said that domestic sphere founded society. It also stated that mothers were the creators of nations. Close to the time that her essay was published, she was also involved in organizing Club Liberal Pro-Cultura de la Mujer.
In 1968, she was a regular guest on San Antonio television, informing the public about education and social progress. In 1969, María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández was appointed the position of Treasurer of the order's board of directors, as well as the President of Circulo Social. In 1970, she grew her political activities by joining the Raza Unida Party. She served as a key-note speaker at the Raza Unida's Statewide Conference, located in Austin, Texas.
On January 8, 1986, she died from pneumonia. She is buried in the plot of the Orden Caballeros de América outside of Elmendorf, Texas. It was desired for her to be buried there as a symbol from the Mexican American people, to show respect towards her life's works.
Notes
- 1 2 Orozco, Cynthia E. "Hernandez, Maria L. de". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
- ↑ Garcia, Alma M. (September 4, 1997). Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-91801-4.
- ↑ Mirande, Alfredo (March 15, 1981). La Chicana: The Mexican-American Woman. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-53160-0.
- ↑ Orozco, Cynthia E.; Korrol, Virginia Sánchez (2006). "Hernández, María Latigo (1896–1986)". Latinas in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 319–320. ISBN 978-0-253-11169-2.