500 Years of Chicana Women's History/ Anos de Historia de las Chicanans

by Martinez, Elizabeth (Betita)

• ISBN13: 9780813542249
• ISBN10: 0813542243
• Edition: Bilingual
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-15
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

The history of Mexican Americans spans more than five centuries and varies from region to region across the United States. Yet most of our history books devote at most a chapter to Chicano history, with even less attention to the story of Chicanas. 500 Years of Chicana Women's Historyoffers a powerful antidote to this omission with a vivid, pictorial account of struggle and survival, resilience and achievement, discrimination and identity. The bilingual text, along with hundreds of photos and other images, ranges from female-centered stories of pre-Columbian Mexico to profiles of contemporary social justice activists, labor leaders, youth organizers, artists, and environmentalists, among others. With a distinguished, seventeen-member advisory board, the book presents a remarkable combination of scholarship and youthful appeal. In the section on jobs held by Mexicanas under U.S. rule in the 1800s, for example, readers learn about flamboyant Doña Tules, who owned a popular gambling saloon in Santa Fe, and Eulalia Arrilla de Pérez, a respected curandera (healer) in the San Diego area. Also covered are the "repatriation" campaigns" of the Midwest during the Depression that deported both adults and children, 75 percent of whom were U.S.born and knew nothing of Mexico. Other stories include those of the garment, laundry, and cannery worker strikes, told from the perspective of Chicanas on the ground. From the women who fought and died in the Mexican Revolution to those marching with their young children today for immigrant rights, every story draws inspiration. Like the editor's previous book, 500 Years of Chicano History(still in print after 30 years), this thoroughly enriching view of Chicana women's history promises to become a classic.

Author Biography

Elizabeth "Betita" Martinex is Director of the Institute for MultiRacial Justice in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

The Story of La Chicana Begins	p. 2
A New Invader Comes	p. 25
Chicanas at Work Under U.S. Rule	p. 36
La Revolucion Mexicana	p. 49
Let's Go To the U.S.	p. 59
The Great Depression, Repatriation, Strike!	p. 67
World War II	p. 81
The Movement is Born	p. 99
The Life of a Farmworker Woman	p. 113
Our Own Party	p. 125
No a la Guerra en Vietnam	p. 127
Work = Struggle	p. 133
VIVA LA MUJER!	p. 143
Mujeres who love women	p. 181
Walking the Red Road	p. 187
Culture contains the seed	p. 203
Today's Writers	p. 213
Musica, Teatro, Film	p. 217
The Counter-Insurgency	p. 237
The Land That Came Back to Life	p. 252
The Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice	p. 254
New Worker Struggles	p. 259
Immigrant Rights	p. 286
Alliance Building Across Color Lines	p. 297
Chicanas in Public Office	p. 314
Youth Are Rising	p. 320
Not to Be Forgotten	p. 322
Further Reading	p. 325
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