Chicana Tributes

Book excerpt: This book documents the experiences of sixty-one women who flourished in the ferment of the civil/ethnic/women's rights movements of the late twentieth century and beyond. While each life is unique, collectively they demonstrate the benefits gained when a community and a society unleashes and fosters the potential of women who create, organize, and lead. Conversely, an undetermined degree of loss may accrue to societies that suppress or discourage the freedom of women to shape their destinies. When women come together with a collective intention, powerful things happen. Simultaneously, but separately, in 1972-73, at San Diego State University and at Stanford University, and having never met, two of us had the same idea, to propose and design a course about Mexican American women. The idea for this book also has a history. In those days, both of us wanted to contribute to the development of Chicano studies. The Mexican American voice, so much a fabric of U.S. history was missing from the dominant English narrative and the women's presence was nearly absent from Chicano literature and history. Chicanas acted to change these injustices, thereby adding new energy to the Chicano Movement and to other liberation discourse. At that time, as graduate students, we had the opportunity to teach a Chicana women's course. Such a course had never been taught at either university. While women instigated change at different colleges, in those years Chicanas/Latinas appeared to be anonymous. And although Anglo women around the country had already started addressing women's needs, they did not include the new diverse student population that was entering the universities. the woman where she has most noticeably served. Chapters One and Two begin with Mujeres Presentes, that is, the women who have passed away but whose presence lives on as their actions continue to affect the lives of others. Chapters Eleven and Twelve highlight educators whose work builds on that of earlier mentors and their actions. The chapters between include: Three and Four, "Early Activists;" Five and Six, "Chicanas in the Arts: " Seven and Eight, "Chicanas in Education;" Nine and Ten, "Chicanas in Public Office." Each chapter includes a brief introduction, but the women's narratives are the core of the book; their stories easily stand on their own. This collection may be considered a starting point and by no means represents the entire Chicana/Latina community in San Diego. As it turned out there were many more women than the sixty-one women presented here. The hope is that others may read the book and decide to author a future edition. All women ought to be honored for their efforts and receive the recognition they deserve.