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National Hispanic Cultural Center
Albuquerque NM, USA
Sufragistas Latinas Luchando por el Derecho al Voto
Celebrating the U.S. centennial of the Women’s Vote,
this exhibit features Latinas from the international Hispanic diaspora who were instrumental
in women’s suffrage worldwide.
This virtual "tour" is an online version of the exhibit created and curated by the NHCC's History and Literary Arts Program
(http://www.nhccnm.org/learn/nhcc-library-archive/).
19th Amendment Ratification - June 28, 1919
Jovita Idár (1885–1946) was a journalist, political activist, and civil rights worker, who fought for the rights of Mexican-Americans and women. She first worked as a teacher but later turned to journalism and worked at her father's newspaper, “La Crónica”. She was born in Laredo, Texas.
Andrea (1881-1963) and Teresa (1883-unkown) Villarreal, were activists and political organizers. The sisters from San Antonio, Texas, founded “La Mujer Moderna”, a feminist news-paper, and used the publication to forward their views on social, political and economic reform as they related to conditions for Mexican-Americans in Texas, often taking a bold or radical stance. “La Mujer Moderna” also urged Mexican-American women to assert their rights,
including the right of suffrage. (Teresa Villarreal - pictured, Andrea Villarreal – not pictured)
19th Amendment Ratification - Nov. 1, 1919
Selina Solomons (1862-1942) was a California suffragist active in the 1911 campaign which resulted in the passage of Proposition 4, gaining women the right ot vote in California. Solomons wrote a firsthand account of the movement titled, "How We Won the Vote in California". She was from a Sephardic Jewish family with deep roots in the United States.
María Guadalupe Evangelina Lopez de Lowther (1881-1977) was a California
suffragist and an educator from Los Angeles. In the 1910s, she campaigned and translated at rallies in Southern California, where suffragists distributed tens of thousands of pamphlets in Spanish.
19th Amendment Ratification - Feb. 16, 1920
Adelina “Nina” Otero-Warren (1881-1965) was a suffragist, educator, and politician. Otero-Warren worked in education, politics, and public health. She became one of New Mexico's first female government officials when she served as Santa Fe Superintendent of Instruction from 1917 to 1929. Otero-Warren was the first Latina to run for Congress. In 1922, she ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Republican candidate for New Mexico.
Soledad Chávez Chacón (1890-1936) was the first woman elected to be the Secretary of State of New Mexico, and the first Hispanic woman elected to statewide office in the United States. She was first elected to the office of Secretary of State in 1922. The people of New Mexico nicknamed her "Lala", during her time in office. She served another two-year term beginning in 1924. During that time, she served as the first female acting governor with substantial powers of a U.S. state, when James F. Hinkle, governor at the time, left the state to go to the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo (1859-1930) was a Republican politician who served as the fourth governor of New Mexico and as a United States senator. He was the first Mexican-American United States Senator. Larrazolo advocated for bilingual education and supported the civil rights of Mexican immigrants in the state. He was also a supporter of the women's suffrage amendment to the United States Constitution. New Mexico ratified the 19th amendment as the 32nd state during his tenure as governor.
Matilde Hidalgo Navarro de Prócel (1889-1974) was a physician, poet, and activist. She was the first woman to exercise the right to vote in Ecuador (and Latin America) and also the first to receive a Doctorate in Medicine. On June 9, 1924, Matilde Hidalgo voted in Loja, Ecuador, becoming the first woman in Latin America to vote in a national election and making Ecuador the first country on the continent to grant women voting rights, although suffrage was not officially granted until 1929.
Zoila Ugarte de Landívar (1864–1969), also known by her pseudonym Zarelia was a writer, journalist, suffragist, and feminist. She was the first female journalist in Ecuador.
Ana Roque de Duprey (1853-1933) was a teacher and suffragist. She founded the Ponceño and Mayagüezano College. In 1917, she founded the Puerto Rican Women's League, which was the first Puerto Rican feminist organization. She was also the founder of "La Mujer" magazine.
Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922) is considered by many to be the first true suffragist in Puerto Rico. She was one of Puerto Rico's most famous labor leaders. She was also a writer who fought for equal rights for women's rights and human emancipation. She insisted that all women, not just the rich or literate, should have the same right to vote as men.
Bertha Lutz (1894-1976) was a leader in both the Pan American feminist and human rights movements. Lutz fought hard to earn her countrywomen the right to vote. In 1935, she ran for Congress and became one of the few Brazilian congresswomen of the time.
Celina Guimarães Viana (1890-1972) was a Brazilian professor and suffragist. She was the first women to vote in Brazil on April 5, 1928, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. She registered to vote because her husband convinced her to do so, without knowing that this act would lead her to be part of her country's history.
Paulina Luisi (1875-1950) was one of the founders of Uruguayan feminism and was in charge of creating the National Women's Council. She was the first female doctor to be received in Uruguay. "In this country, which is nonetheless mine, I lack the authority required to talk about serious, scientific or social matters, because mischievous nature did not grant me the privilege of belonging to the male sex."
Ofelia Domínguez Navarro (1894-1976) was a Cuban writer, teacher, lawyer, feminist and activist. She was a proponent of the rights of women and illegitimate children.
María Collado Romero (1885-1968) was a Cuban journalist, poet, and feminist. She was the first female news reporter and parliamentary reporter in Cuba. She was the creator and president of the Democratic Suffragist Party of Cuba.
Josefa Llanes Escoda (1898-1945) was a prominent civic leader and a social worker. She is well known as a Filipino advocate of women's suffrage and was founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines.
Concepción Felix (1884-1967) was a Filipina feminist and human rights activist. She established one of the first women's organizations in the Philippines, Asociación Feminista Filipina, She has been recognized as one of the first feminists of the Philippines and was honored with many awards.
Paz Juana Plácida Adela Rafaela Zamudio Rivero, known as Adela Zamudio (1854–1928) was a poet, feminist, and educator. She is considered the most famous Bolivian poet and is credited as founding the country's feminist movement.
Prudencia Ayala (1885-1936) fought for women's rights and social reforms in El Salvador. With a level of second-grade schooling, she created the newspaper "Female Redemption", wrote several books and ran for the position of president in 1930 (her request was denied by the Supreme Court of Justice). Women obtained in suffrage in 1939 with restrictions requiring literacy and a higher age. All restrictions were lifted in 1950.
Clara González (1898-1990) was the first Panamanian woman to earn her Bachelor of Law Degree in 1922. She was the first Latin American woman to earn a doctorate in law. She created the National Feminist Party and pressed for suffrage for women. She served in the Constitutional Assembly which finally granted women emancipation in 1946 and was the first Panamanian woman named as a Juvenile Court judge.
Elida Luis Campodónico Moreno (1894-1960) was a teacher, women's rights advocate and attorney. She was one of the founders of the National Feminist Party of Panama and worked for women to gain voting rights.
A 1941 electoral law granted a limited franchise to women (to vote for and be elected to provincial bodies) if they held a university degree or had completed vocational training, a teacher’s college, or secondary schooling. Full political rights were granted to women in 1946.
Ana Emilia Abigail Mejía Soliere (1895-1941) was a feminist, narrator, writer, literary critic, and educator. She is one of the leading figures of the feminist movement in the Dominican Republic.
Delía Mercedes Weber Pérez (1900-1982) was a teacher, artist, poet, and film actress, as well as a feminist and supporter of women's suffrage. Through her writing and painting, she portrayed the world in which she lived and the restrictions placed upon her life. Founding several cultural and feminist clubs, she helped gain both civil and political rights for women.
Graciela Quan Valenzuela (1911–1999) was a Guatemalan lawyer, activist, and social worker. She campaigned for women's suffrage, writing a draft proposal for Guatemala's enfranchisement law. She was a delegate to the United Nations and the President of the Inter-American Commission of Women. (second from the left, at the National Council of Catholic Women in 1958)
Carmen Clemente Travieso (1900-1983) was the first female journalist in Venezuela. In 1935, she founded the “Women’s Cultural Association”, which fought for many causes, including the right to vote for women. She and other women, like Ana Senior, Alegria Laya, and Olga Luzardo, worked to get women’s suffrage approved in Venezuela.
Juan Perón (1895-1974) and María Eva Duarte de Perón (1919-1952). Concurrent to
Perón’s five-year plans, Eva supported a women’s movement that concentrated on the rights of women, the poor, and the disabled. Although her role in the politics of Perón’s first term remains disputed, Eva introduced social justice and equality into the national discourse.
Julieta Lanteri-Renshaw (1873-1932) was an Italian-Argentine physician, leading freethinker, and activist for women’s rights in Argentina, as well as for social reform.
Alicia Moreau de Justo (1885-1986) was a physician, politician, pacifist, and human rights activist. She was a leading figure in feminism and socialism in Argentina. In 1932, she drew up a bill that established female suffrage, which was not finalized until September 23, 1947, with the signing of a decree by Perón.
Elvira Rawson de Dellepiane (1867-1954) was a militant suffragist and the second woman to receive a medical degree in Argentina. She was an activist for women's and children's rights and was known as "the mother of women's rights in Argentina".
María de la Cruz Toledo (1912-1995) was a political activist for women’s suffrage, journalist, writer, and political commentator. In 1953, she became the first woman ever elected to the Chilean Senate.
Elena Caffarena (1903-2003) was a lawyer, jurist, and politician. Many consider her to be one of the most important 20th-century public figures in Chile.
Graciela Mandujano (1902-1984) was a Chilean politician and feminist.
Corina Rodríguez López (1895-1982) was an educator, writer, feminist and occasional sculptor. She was the founder of the Casa del Niño and the Temperance League of Costa Rica, as well as a feminist and suffragist.
María Teresa Obregón Zamora (1888-1956) was a teacher, suffragist, and politician. She was part of the group that formed the Asociación Nacional de Educadores (ANDE) (National Association of Educators) and fought for women's enfranchisement.
Paz Juana Plácida Adela Rafaela Zamudio Rivero, known as Adela Zamudio (1854–1928) was a poet, feminist, and educator. She is considered the most famous Bolivian poet and is credited as founding the country's feminist movement.
María del Refugio García, also known as Cuca García (1898-1970) was an important figure in the early struggle for women's rights in Mexico.
Matilde Rodríguez Cabo Guzmán (1902–1967) was Mexico's first female psychiatrist. She was also a surgeon, writer, feminist, and suffragist.
Hermila Galindo Acosta (1886–1954) was a feminist and writer. She was an early supporter of many radical feminist issues, primarily sex education in schools, women's suffrage, and divorce. She was one of the first feminists to state that Catholicism in Mexico was thwarting feminist efforts, and was the first woman to run for elected office in Mexico.
Elvia Carrillo Puerto (1878–1968) was a politician and feminist activist. Due to Carillo's contributions to Mexican government and history, she was officially decorated as a "Veteran of the Revolution." Carillo's tireless dedication to the revolution and women's movement earned her the nickname "The Red Nun" (La Monja Roja).
Lucila Rubio de Laverde (1908-1970) was one of the leading suffragists in her country. She was also a teacher and the first woman to present a demand for the vote to the President of Columbia.
Ofelia Uribe de Acosta (1900-1988) was a Columbian suffragist. In 1944 and 1955 respectively, she founded, edited, directed, and distributed two political newspapers, the first called Agitacion Femenina (Feminist Movement) and the second called Verdad (Truth).
María Currea de Aya (1890-1985) was a feminist, suffragist, politician, nurse, and journalist. She was instrumental in pressuring for laws in Columbia which recognized women's right to citizenship, education, and enfranchisement.
Visitación Padilla (1882-1960) was an educator and feminist activist. She organized the mutual aid societies of Honduras, strengthened anti-alcohol leagues, and organized for the rights of Honduran women.
Josefa Toledo de Aguerri (1866-1962) was a feminist, writer and education reformist. Regarded as a pioneer for education of women in Nicaragua, Josefa, along with Angelica Balladares Montealegre (1872-1973) is one of the most celebrated feminists and suffragists in Nicaragua.
María Jesús Alvarado Rivera (1878-1971) was a feminist, educator, journalist, writer, and social activist. She was noted by the National Council of Women of Peru in 1969 as the "first modern champion of women's rights in Peru”.
Magda Portal (1901-1989) was a poet, journalist, feminist, and activist. She was a central figure in Peru’s political vanguard during the first half of the twentieth century and spent extended periods of her life imprisoned or in exile.
Elvira García y García (1862-1951) was a Peruvian educator and feminist. She is regarded as a pioneer in women's education in Peru.
María Felicidad González (1884-1980) was an academic and feminist activist. She is considered a leading figure in the early history of Paraguayan feminism. She represented Paraguay at the 1922 Pan-American Conference of Women.
Alfredo Stroessner (1912-2006) was a Paraguayan Army officer who served as President of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989. Women's suffrage was gained in Paraguay, primarily because the “strong-arm” president, lacking the approval of his male constituents, sought to bolster his support through women voters.
Carolina Beatriz Ângelo (1878-1911) was a physician and the first woman to vote in Portugal. She used the ambiguity of a law that issued the right to vote to literate head-of-households over 21, to cast her vote in the election of the Constituent National Assembly in 1911. Shortly thereafter, on July 3, 1913, a law was passed to specify the right to vote was only for male citizens, literate and over 21. Her act was widely reported on throughout Portugal and among feminist associations in other countries.
In 1911, Carolina Beatriz Ângelo became the first Portuguese woman to vote due to a legal technicality; the law was then altered to specify only literate male citizens over the age of 21 had the right to vote. Over the next several decades there were a few allowances made for women and men to vote. In 1976, all voting restrictions were lifted following the Carnation Revolution, in which the authoritarian Estado Novo regime was overthrown and the transition to democracy began.
María de la O Lejárraga (1874-1974) also known as Maria de la O, was a feminist writer, dramatist, translator, and politician.
Women's suffrage in Francoist Spain was inhibited by age limits, definitions around heads of household, and a lack of elections. Women earned the right to vote in Spain in 1933, as a result of legal changes made during the Second Spanish Republic. Women lost most of their rights, however, after Franco came to power in 1939, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, with the major exception that women did not universally lose their right to vote. Repression of the women's vote occurred nevertheless as the dictatorship held no national democratic elections between 1939 and 1977. The first national elections in which women could vote took place in 1977, two years after the death of Franco.
Clara Campoamor (1888-1972) was a politician and feminist best known for her advocacy for women's rights and suffrage during the writing of the Spanish constitution of 1931.
María Cambrils Sendra (1878-1939) was a writer and feminist. She was self-taught and became part of the working class intellectual elite as a writer and lecturer. She is the author of the 1925 book Feminismo socialista, a reference on women's rights and feminist and socialist action.
For more information, contact:
Cassandra E. Osterloh, MA, MLS
Librarian, History and Literary Arts, NHCC
http://www.nhccnm.org/learn/nhcc-library-archive/
cassandra.osterloh@state.nm.us
505-383-4708
1701 4th Street SW
Albuquerque NM 87102