JANUARY 17: TODAY'S INSPIRING WOMEN
MArtha cotera
Martha Cotera, pioneering Chicana feminist, and author of two seminal texts Diosa y Hembra and Chicana Feminist, was born today in 1939. She was a founding member Raza Unida Party in Texas (1969) and is considered one of the mothers of Chicana Feminism.
Betty White
Betty White, an American actress and comedian, was born in 1922. She broke the Guiness Book of World Records in 2013 for having the longest television career of a female entertainer, appearing in a wide variety of television shows and movies, including "Life with Elizabeth," “Mama’s Family,” “The Golden Girls,” and “Hot in Cleveland.”
EDITH GREEN
Edith Green was an American politician and educator from Oregon. She was the second Oregonian woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served a total of ten terms, from 1955 to 1974, as a Democrat. She was born today in 1910.
MICHELLE OBAMA
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an American lawyer and writer born in 1964. She was First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and is the first African American First Lady.
Chicana feminist writer and activist Martha Cotera was born today in 1938. Educated in Texas, Cortera began her career as a librarian in El Paso and quickly became involved with organizing in the Latino community, including the farmworkers movement. She was a pivotal figure in the Raza Unida Party that formed in Texas and she is one of the founders of the Texas Women’s Political Caucus.
Martha Cotera
DEEPER DIVE
Martha Cotera has written over 100 essays, articles, and book chapters on activism, civil rights, feminism, and Latino history. She shares her own story here.
Source: The Latina History Project - Southwestern University