las mujeres de las americas

Women of the Americas

2nd Edition

edited by Georgina Cecilia Pérez

Background, Purpose, & Goal 4 ...................................................................................

Reviews 5 ....................................................................................................................

List of characters 6 .......................................................................................................

Teatro Monologues 11 ..................................................................................................

Critical Reflection 19 ....................................................................................................

Musical Resources 20 ...................................................................................................

Teacher Resources 22 ..................................................................................................

Libros 28 .....................................................................................................................

Women of the Americas 32 ..........................................................................................

Coloring Book 32 ........................................................................................................

Mujer mexica 33 .........................................................................................................

Sor Juana 35 ...............................................................................................................

Lucia Gonzalez parsons 36 ..........................................................................................

Teresa Urrea 37 ...........................................................................................................

Herlinda Wong Chew 38 ..............................................................................................

Graciela Olmos 39 ......................................................................................................

Carmelita torres 40 ......................................................................................................

Frida Kahlo 41 ............................................................................................................

Emma Tenayuca 42 ......................................................................................................

Dolores huerta 43 ........................................................................................................

Gloria anzaldua 44 .....................................................................................................

Comandanta Ramona 45 .............................................................................................

La Llorona 46 ..............................................................................................................

Sonia Sotomayor 47 ....................................................................................................

Me 48 .........................................................................................................................

About the Artist 49......................................................................................................

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

“Women of the Americas” 2nd Edition, July 2019

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L A S M U J E R E S

B A C KG R O U N D , P U R P O S E , & G O A L

B A C KG R O U N D Teatro is the voice of the disenfranchised and marginalized, acting out the

need for economic, political, and social change. In teatro, the audience

becomes part of rather than spectators of the “play.” The teatro should

bring the audience not only into the portrayal of the characters, but also

bring them to boisterous laughter, painful tears, and most importantly - to

share their own experiences.

The spirit of teatro is in each of us - Chicanas, Latinas, Tejanas,

Americanas.

The performances of each of the characters will reveal the human essence of

our barrios, colonias, pueblos, campos, escuelas, hogares… Our joys, suffering,

disappointments, aspirations – and those of our gente.

P U R P O S E Teatro is an empowering act providing information via entertainment and the opportunity of understanding self and others.

It is a source of courage, dignity, kindness, generosity, and hope – to act as a more capable protagonist of one’s own life.

Each of these do not happen independently, but simultaneously.

As a collective, we should experience feelings and emotions based on our own lives, our own experiences in circumstances

related to / by similarity or opposition to the text. We should each validate (or question, expand) our experience with the

knowledge being shared… leading us to our own individual critical reflection (we see ourselves in the material, enabling us

to become active participants in our learning experiences and communities).

G O A L Tell your own story.

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They thought they buried us…

they didn’t realize we are seeds.

~ Mexican Proverb

R E V I E W S

“Women of the Americas is a treasure of a book, illuminating the lives, dreams, and activism of women across time and

across the Americas. Using teatro as “an empowering act,” Georgina Cecilia Pérez, and the other contributors to this book

reveal a profound history of mujeres who, although often absent from mainstream books, changed the world. As

importantly, Women of the Americas asks us to look in the mirror and tell our own stories. By doing so, they fulfill one of

the great responsibilities of the teacher according to ancestral Mexican thought—they serve our community as a

tetezcahuiani, the one who places a mirror in front her student’s faces, planting the seed of conciencia, and encouraging us

to truly see ourselves. By making connections between the past and the present, and by allowing us to envision a more just

future, Women of the Americas brings us hope and inspiration while allowing us to experience the lives of women who

came before us.”

Yolanda Chávez Leyva, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History

The University of Texas at El Paso

"I didn’t find out about the lives of extraordinary women, like Teresa Urrea and Carmelita Torres, until I was an adult and

doing research for my book about the history of the U.S.-Mexico border. I had never heard about their fascinating histories

before, even though they had lived in the same place where I was raised. I remember feeling surprised and angry that

nobody had ever taught me anything about them in school. Why hadn’t they? Their stories are important and extremely

relevant not only to fronterizas and fronterizos—those of us who live on borders and who travel back and forth between all

kinds of realities—but to people from all over the world. Now, thanks to Women of the Americas, their personal and

collective stories will be taught in school. Finally."

David Dorado Romo Author of Ringside Seat to A Revolution

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L I S T O F C H A R A C T E R S

Mujer Mexica

In the 14th century, the Mexicas (renamed ‘Aztecs’ by the Spaniard colonizers)

founded the great city of Tenochitlan, now Mexico City. Women are central to many

of their creation stories. Mexicas believe that the life-giving power of the universe is

a duality, Omecihuatl and Ometecuhtli.

La Malinche, Malintzin (1496-1529)

Malintzin Tenepal, a woman from a Nahuatl village in Veracruz, held captive upon

the arrival of the conquistadores and impregnated by Hernán Cortéz, shaped the a

narrative about the Mother of Mestizos, who we know today as, La Malinche. Not

only did Malintzin witness the savagery of the colonizers destroy Mexico City and

the waters of Texcoco turn red with the blood of her people, but much later saw her

only son by Cortez, Martín, strangled by the Spanish Inquisition… an area of 18

million Mexicans massacred to fewer than one million.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695)

Born: Juana Ramírez de Abaje

She broke every sexist rule laid down by Imperial Spain and the Church. She was a

philosopher, poet, playwright, mathematician and scientist. She left behind many

biting poems addressed to “foolish men who accused women without reason.”

Lucy González Parsons (1853-1942)

Born in Texas of Black, Native Mexican American parents, she was a warrior who

lead a march of 80,000 workers in 1886 on behalf of workers’ rights and against

police brutality. She died in 1942; despite being blind, she never stopped fighting

against oppression.

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Teresita Urrea (1873-1906)

Born of a fifteen-year-old Tehuecan Indian girl and wealthy rancher, she was a

healer gifted with the ability to cure people. Known for denouncing

exploitation of the poor by the government and church she lived in El Paso for

some time, her home in the Segundo Barrio is now a historical landmark.

Herlinda Wong Chew (1893-1939)

Known as Honorary Chinese Consul of El Paso, Herlinda overcame sexism,

tradition, the Chinese Exclusionary Act and Mexican Revolution to help people

as advocate and leader. She was born of Aztec and Chinese parents, grew up

speaking Spanish, Chinese, French and English.

Graciela Olmos (1895-1962)

“La Bandida” fought alongside Francisco Villa like many women

who were fearless and in the trenches. Nurses, messengers, soldiers,

these women made the revolution possible. A composer, she used

music to chronicle the revolution and as an outlet for the mind/soul.

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Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)

Born: Lucila de Maria del Perpetuo Socorro Gody Alcayaga

A Chilean poet, the first Latina to win the Literature Nobel Prize, 1945.

An educator, diplomat and feminist with a deep commitment to the poor;

specifically children. Gabriela is considered one of the greatest humanistic

voices of our time. “Desolaciόn” is one of her major works.

Carmelita Torres (1900-???)

“The Bath Riots” A 17 year-old Mexican maid who refused the ‘disinfection baths’ on the

Santa Fe Bridge, Juárez/El Paso, 1917. Over 127,000 Mexicans were subjected to El Paso

Mayor, Tom Lea’s, Disinfection Campaign that year alone. The disinfections continued

through the late 1950’s. Despite several articles written about Carmelita Torres and the

“Bath Riots,” a photograph of Carmelita Torres has yet to be discovered.

See Character Resources

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

A Mexican surrealist and artist; she painted her own reality. “Unos Cuantos Piquetitos,”

relates the wounds and bruises of her life providing a mirrored imagery of her warrior spirit.

Surviving a tragic accident that left her crippled she was a fighter that loved life.

“!Viva la Vida!”

Emma Tenayuca (1916-1999)

La Pasionaria, born in San Antonio, known for her leadership in the San Antonio Pecan

Shellers Strike of 1938; the first major victory in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Her

activism focused on livable wages, brutality by the US border patrol, education, and

women’s rights.

"I never thought in terms of fear. I thought in terms of justice."

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Dolores Huerta (1930-present)

Born: Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta

Founded the United Farm Workers Union alongside Cesar Chavez in 1962.

A fearless, committed organizer, advocating for social justice for women,

children and the under-served. She continues to develop leadership in

under-represented communities through her Foundation.

Gloria Anzaldua (1942-2004)

A self-described "Chicana dyke-feminist, Tejana Patlache poet, writer, and

cultural theorist," a guiding force in the Chican@ Movement and lesbian/queer theory.

She wove together languages, prose, poetry, autobiography, theory, and experimental

writing to explore issues of identity, sexuality, immigration, and more.

Comandanta Ramona (1959-2006)

Zapatista leader from Chiapas who advocated for the rights of Indigenous women and

children in Mexico through the passing of the Ley Revolucionaria de la Mujer, the

Revolutionary Law for Women. She advocated for clinics, access to reproductive

care, and social justice.

La Llorona

Cihuacoalt, an indigenous Meso-American goddess re-named, "La Llorona",

known to the pre-colonized world as the entity who comforted mourning mothers

and guided children to the next world. The demented version that is known in most

Mexican/Latin American families is "about a woman who killed her children and

continues to haunt by rivers with the threat of abducting them.

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Sonia Sotomayor (1954-present)

First Latina Supreme Court Justice of the United State of America. A Nuyorican, born in

New York City in 1954, she grew up in the projects in the south Bronx. She graduated from

Princeton and then from Yale with a law degree. When interviewed by U.S. Senators during

her nomination for Supreme Court Justice, she stated “I would hope that a wise Latina with

the richness of my experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a

white male who hasn't lived that life."

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T E AT R O M O N O L O G U E S

Mujer Mexica

(Music - the sound of the conch)

Soy Mujer Mexica. Soy el humo del copal que vive en tu memoria, levanto flores con mis canciones. El pulso

de la tierra, dirige mi danza. Ofrendo con los ciclos de la luna, la sangre sagrada de mi matríz. I live on in

your history. Soy la que vive en tu historia, esa mujer que exije que regreses a la tierra. Nunca te olvides de

mi. Nevero forget me. Cihuatl, Mujer. Somos creadoras, sabias, talentosas, y ponderosas. Somos Mujeres

Mexicas.

Dialogue by Sandra Iturbe

La Malinche (1496-1529)

Yo soy la Malinche. My people called me Malintzin Tenepal, the Spaniards knew me as Doña Marina. I came

to be known as Malinche and soon that came to mean traitor. Me convertí en la Malinche, nombre que

significa hoy traidora. They called me Chingada ..Chingada! Of noble ancestry, I was sold into slavery by MY

ROYAL FAMILY so my brother could get MY inheritance. The omens began, a god, a new civilization…the

downfall of our empire. And then he came…my Hernán Cortéz to share his civilization. I began to dream…I

saw…I acted. I saw our world, and his and then another. Yes, I helped you Hernán against the Emperor

Moctezuma Xocoyotzin himself! I was interpreter, advisor and lover. But no one would have it, me at your

level? So they claimed I was raped, used, and history would call me Chingada…but traitor I was not. I saw a

dream and I reached it...another world…La Raza… LA RAAAAA ZAAAAA !

Interpretation of Carmen Tafolla’s “La Malinche”

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695)

“Hombres necios que acusais a la mujer sin razόn, sin ver que sois la ocasiόn de lo mismo que culpáis. Yo Soy

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz… I am a writer, philosopher, mathematician and scientist. I chose to become a nun

so that I could continue to study as I wished. I broke every sexist rule set by Imperial Spain and the Church.

I was strong and independent way before my time…my courage and perseverance led me to create an array

of writings, and biting poems…many giving a voice to a woman’s right to education. “You stubborn men, you

men-so very adept at wrongly faulting womankind, not seeing you are alone to blame for faults you plant in

woman’s mind.” I left behind many eloquent answers to many things I questioned… Dejé respuestas a tantas

injusticias que cuestioné …but above all I left inspiration for all women. Inspiration transcending all time.

Dialogue by Jen Lucero

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Lucy Parsons (1853-1942)

Negra, Indigena, Mexicana. Born a slave on a plantation. Yo So Lucy Parsons.

My origins are blanketed in mystery. Most accounts tell that I was born to slave parents in Texas, 1853.

Birth certificates for us were more like stock certificates for slave owners in the Old South. Soon, slavery

evolved into a modern-day servitude called CAPITALISM. I dedicated my life to end this system which only

serves a few, maintaining a power structure for the dominating class… while the working class, the pillars of

this nation, live in squalor. United, we can take hold of the means of production. We must Organize! Act!

Strike! Huelga! Together, as a collective, we have the power to tear down the system and put an end to

oppression… by any means necessary. I refused to assume the role of homemaker. I was arrested many

times, but I was NEVER silenced. I never stopped fighting for the rights of the poor and the power of the

masses. After my death, my library of over 1500 books and all of my writings were confiscated by the FBI -

to silence my voice and to erase me from history. Yo soy Lucia Eldine Gonzalez Parsons and my legacy is

more dangerous than a thousand rioters.

Dialogue by Celia Aguilar

Teresita Urrea (1873-1906)

They call me the Saint of Cabora…Yo soy Teresita Urrea la Santa de Cabora, luz de la revolucion. My people

proclaimed me a saint because I… who have spoken to God, who has risen from the dead, and was reborn a

holy woman, was blessed with the great knowledge of our grandmothers… spiritual powers that allowed me

to heal my people. Mi Corazon, quebrado en pedazos, enraged by the massacre of my people in Tomochic,

lives to serve as a voice and hope for the poor. My name resonates across the mountains of Chihuahua

against those who try to dictate and overpower us, and when I plant my feet upon the ground, no man can

move me! It was my name that ignited the first sparks in the fire that would rage against the power of

Porfirio Diaz. I am el espiritu, punta de la historia...soy belleza…yes I am a healer, mother and warrior. I am

Teresita Urrea, la Santa de Cabora, muse of the revolution and heir of the Yaquis. Soy herredera de los

Yaquis.

Dialogue by Tiffany Deveze

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Herlinda Wong Chew (1893-1939)

I am the jade of two continents: heir of the Aztecs. Yo Soy Herlinda Wong Chew. China’s grandiosity runs

through my blood… corre en mi sangre la grandeza de China. I speak four languages and protect my people

against murder and eviction… para que no nos expulsen de América. Soy la Nueva Meztiza Mestiza…an

entrepreneur… attorney with no formal education. An immigrant… I navigate three cultures. Conozco al

dedillo la Ley de Exclusiόn de los Chinos and I know how to circumvent it so America will open its doors to

my kin. I’ve overcome tradition, sexism, the Chinese Exclusionary Act and the Mexican Revolution to help

people as advocate and leader. Escuchen… Listen: those are the sounds of the revolution. Federales y

alzados buscan a los chinos para desquitarse de sus propias penas. No se asusten, don’t despair…

I will guide you and take you to safety.

Dialogue by Dr. Selfa Chew

Soldadera, Graciela Olmos (1895-1962)

(Singing: “Y si Adelita se fuera con otro, la seguiría por tierra y por mar. Si por mar en un buque de Guerra, si por tierra en un tren

militar…”)

Soy soldadera, a soldier during the Mexican Revolution. I am Graciela Olmos. A composer...cantaba y tocaba

con mi guitara para cantarle a mi pueblo sobre lo que veía y vivía…I sang to my people about what I saw and

lived through every day. I wrote popular songs. Compuse canciones que artistas como Javier Solís y los

tradicionales Tríos popularizaran como esta:

(Singing: “Ay Corazόn me lastima tu latir, “Corazόn por qué te empeñas…en hacerme sufrir”)

Yo anduve con el General Francisco Villa and I wrote this song: El Siete Leguas para recordar a su caballo

que un día le salvό la vida al sacarlo del peligro My guitar was my weapon…Con ella le cantaba a la vida,

al amor, y a la muerte. Que Viva La Revoluciόn… Long Live the Revolution! Que Viva!

Dialogue by Lucia Carmona

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Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)

“Piececitos de niño, dos joyitas sufrientes, pasan sin veros las gentes!...

I am known as a great humanitarian… Yo soy Gabriela Mistral. Ante el mundo conocida como la gran

humanitaria…enbajadora, Ambassador of Chile. A poet, diplomat, educator and feminist, I was the first

Latin American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for my beloved craft… literatura. I am a world advocate and

protector of children…jugaba a ser maestra desde niña, para inspirar a los niños de todo el mundo a

expresar lo que pensaban y alcanzar sus sueños…. ayudé a transformar la educacíon en México …and in

1946 at the urging of the United Nations mi llamado para que el mundo ayudara a los niños en todo el

mundo…my appeal to help children everywhere…became what we know as UNICEF today... organizaciόn que

enfatiza los derechos de los niños. En “Su Nombre Es Hoy” escribí “We are guilty of many errors and many

faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, reflecting the fountain of life.” Soy Gabriela Mistral.

Dialogue by Elena Garza

Carmelita Torres (1899/1900-?)

I was 17 the morning I refused the bath! The damned inspections and disinfections! Soy Carmelita Torres, a

maid - and like many mujeres, I crossed the border every day to clean the homes of white people in El Paso.

On January 28, 1917, border crossers were now “illegals.” For some time, we had been forced to strip naked

because they say we are dirty and spread diseases; second-class humans in need of cleansing. The baths

started with gasoline, kerosene, but quickly became DDT and Zyklon-B. Our clothes were sterilized with hot

steam, our shoes melted to our

dresses, our garments were drenched with hydrogen cyanide. While we were naked, inspectors would

photograph us and sell the pictures to El Paso cantinas. Our hairy parts were checked for lice, and when

inspectors decided, we were shaved head to toe, then drenched in kerosene. The

baths were Mayor Tom Lea’s Disinfection Campaign, praised by Hitler in 1924; adopted at Auschwitz in

1930. There are reports that I was arrested on this day. The El Paso Morning Times described me as an

auburn-haired Amazon that lead a feminine outbreak… but there are no pictures of me and I am not in

history textbooks. And just like the baths intended - I was

wiped out, erased, and disappeared. But I stood against injustice this day. Thousands of maids, field

workers and demonstrators joined me at the Santa Fe Bridge, the “Bath Riots. My actions inspired others to

stand up… and that ordinary day we were all extraordinary.

I was 17.

Dialogue by Georgina C. Pérez

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Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

(Music – Paloma Negra by Lola Beltran)

Pintora, revolucionaria, rebelde. I was born with a revolution. Yo soy… I am Frida Kahlo. People should

know. It was in that fire that I was born… led by the impulse of the revolution until I saw the light. Que lo

sepan! Fue en ese fuego donde nací, llevada por el impulso de la revuelta hasta el momento de ver la luz. As

a little girl I witnessed with my own eyes Zapata’s peasants battle against the Carrancistas. The light

burned. It enveloped me for the rest of my life. As an adult I was a flame of fire. I am truly the daughter of a

revolution there is no doubt about that, de eso no hay duda, and of the ancient god of fire that my ancestors

revered. I was born in 1910. It was summer. Era verano. Soon Emilano Zapata, the Great Insurgent, would

rise in the South. Yo tuve esa suerte…I had that luck: 1910 was my year. Que Viva la Reforma!

Que Viva el Pueblo!

Dialogue by Frida Kahlo

Emma Tenayuca (1916-1999)

When I was 16, I challenged injustice. No es justo!

Yo soy, Emma Tenayuca. When I was 21, I organized one of the largest labor strikes in U.S. history, The San

Antonio Pecan Sheller’s Strike, una huelga that was more than 12,000 workers strong, most of them

Mexicanas y Tejanas. Grower’s wanted to cut our wages in half. La Huelga duró mas que 3 meses.

We were sprayed with pesticides, tear gas, and were brutalized by local police… and still La Huelga endured

hasta que ganábamos!!! Our wages were increased and this LUCHA was one of the first significant victories

in the Mexican American struggle for political and economic equality.

When I was 23, I spoke at San Antonio’s Municipal Auditorium, calling on ALL mujeres to stand up for their

rights to an effective education, to vote in all elections, and demand fair wages! The KKK rioted and burned

San Antonio’s mayor in effigy. Still today, this is the largest riot in San Antonio’s history. Soon after, I was

forced to leave my home. I relocated in the Bay Area of San Francisco, and became a public school teacher.

Nunca deje de luchar por me gente! Por la justicia! “It’s the women who have led, and I feel very strongly

that if ever this world is to be civilized, it will be because of the work of women.” Me llaman La Pasionaria.

Activista. Maestra. I never thought in terms of fear. I thought in terms of justice.

Dialogue by Georgina C . Pérez

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Dolores Huerta (1930-present)

(Singing – “Unidos en la lucha! No no nos moverán. Unidos e la lucha! No nos moverán, y el que no quiera que haga la prueba… No

nos moverán…”)

No Nos Moverán! Chicana labor and civil rights leader. Farmworker advocate, teacher, activist mother and

grandmother. Yo Soy Dolores Huerta. Co-founder of the United Farmworkers of America, fundamos la Union

de Trabajadores Agricolas and the National Farm Workers Association along-side Cesar Chavez. We

organized boycotts demanding farmworkers’ rights to fair labor practices. Huelga! Huelga! He dedicado mi

vida…I have dedicated my life to organizing and creating communities of conscience by training future

leaders in low-income and underrepresented communities. Si Se Puede! Seguro que Si! I am the president of

the Dolores Huerta Foundation, a veterana en la Causa for social justice! Que Viva la Uniόn! Que Viva!

Dialogue by Gina Nuñez, PhD

Gloria Anzaldua (1942-2004)

For years I’ve been writing this poem. I am Gloria Anzaldúa… yo soy teorista, profesora, poeta, escritora, a

veces ni puedo terminar un poema. Writing is like looking into a mirror, y tengo miedo que no me va a

gustar lo que veo en el espejo. No te creas, I am strong. Ever since I was a young woman, I would say, “si

mama, estoy segura de lo que quiero en la vida. She’d respond, “y Gloria, cuando te casas? Se te va pasar el

tren.” Y yo le decia, “Pos, si me caso, no va ser con un hombre.” Si soy hija de la Chingada. I have always

been her daughter. Hija terca… rebelde, I left home pero nunca me olvidé quién soy. Soy una herida abierta,

a battlefield, con lengua de viboras, skin of cracked desert, and hair of barbed wire. Soy Tejana, Chicana.

Mestiza, a borderland. I must face the beast, plunge in and look in the mirror. For years I have been writing

this poem. Yo soy, I am… Gloria.

Dialogue by Andrea Alejandra Gordillo Marquina

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Comandanta Ramona (1959-2006)

Yo Soy Comandante Ramona, Zapatista.

In Chiapas we raised our voices in protest, and the world heard.

As women we came together and wrote the revolutionary law DE LA MUJER!! We have the right to choose

what happens to our bodies, how many children we want to have, and who we want to spend our lives with.

Our women are dying every day in dirty, disease-ridden clinics. We need healthcare! We need clean clinics!

It is a shame that we’ve lost so many women and babies who die during childbirth. My kidneys failed and I

needed surgery. There were no clinics for me. There are no clinics for my people. We women refuse to suffer

violence and mistreatment .We organize so all women know their rights and defend themselves. Our Lucha

has been for justice. JUSTICIA! While we remain with our arms crossed, our people will have a free nation.

The pain and struggle of our lives was not in vain. Que Viva La Mujer!!

Dialogue by Sofia C. Pérez

La Llorona, Cihuacoatl (cee wah CO otl)

Yo soy La Llorona, pero prefiero que me llamen La Gritona. I cry and moan because words are not yet born

to describe the massacres on the land I roam. Haunting the borderlands, I stand for more than the story

shows. I cry for people who struggled to find themselves, for people without a home. Hollering in the winds

of violence, I pray, pray, pray for peace. I cry for women who die in silence, their nameless bodies listed as

deceased. Blame, shame, my ‘damned soul!- a la Chingada it’s time to step away from that old role…I place

an offering upon our sacred altar, A Medicine Bundle, rue, sage, water and ash, smudging the air with the

past; Singing a forbidden song. Doesn’t make me wrong. I offer a way to go back home, a way to dictate

where we roam, a way to break the chains, a way to be set free from this male dominated destiny. I cry for

women who bear children they cannot feed but die trying; I shed the tears that fill the rivers before dying,

Nourishing the farms, barren wastelands, It feels like the whole world is dying in my cold wet hands. My

nightly wails twirl all sides of the moon and then you hear me weeping in the corner of your room. But, I am

not always what I seem. I am a goddess, Cihuacoatl. I am a Ceremony. I carry your children to the next

world, and comfort mourning mothers. Colonization Un-Civilized me. But, I continue to cry for my

children…And I will always scream against injustice.

Dialogue by Cemelli De Aztlan

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Sonia Sotomayor (1954-present)

I was born in New York City, 1954 – a Nuyorican girl from the south Bronx projects. I am Sonia Sotomayor, y

tranquila nunca fui. I worked weekends and summers to help my mother after my father died. I applied to

Princeton University. My first history essay was a disaster. “She can’t even write an essay!” someone said. I

wondered if I should go back home, but I couldn’t let my mother down. I went back to my books, learned

grammar, took writing classes, spent long hours in the library and taught myself to write. I joined Yale

University to study law and became the editor of the Yale Law Journal. I worked for the district attorney’s

office in Manhattan, joined a law firm, became a federal judge, and was promoted to judge in the Second

Circuit. Critiqued for being a woman, Latina, and Catholic. I was ”too liberal.” In 2009, President Obama

announced my candidacy for the Supreme Court of the United States. He said that I was a “woman that

inspires others” who had “an extraordinary trajectory.” The critiques started again. When asked why I

would be a good Supreme Court Judge, I said, “because I am a Wise Latina.” They laughed and mocked me

when I said that “I would hope that a wise Latina with the richness of her experiences would more often

than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." On the 6th of August 2009,

the U.S. Senate voted and I, as American as a mango pie, became the first Latina elected judge to the

Supreme Court of the United State of America. Now, when I talk to students I tell them “I have achieved a lot

and you can do it too, you just have to work hard for it.”

Monologue adopted from: Sonia Sotomayor: Jueza de la Corte Suprema por Carmen T. Bernier-Grand .

2010 and Sonia Sotomayor: My Beloved World 2014.

P A G E ! O F !1 8 4 9

C R I T I C A L R E F L E C T I O N

1. What do I know now that will empower me?

2. In which ways do I understand my reality better?

3. How can I act to transform my inner self?

4. How can I act to transform my social reality?

5. What can I do in a situation like the one in the text?

6. In which ways will I speak/act differently now?

7. How can I improve my life/conditions/relations?

P A G E ! O F !1 9 4 9

M U S I C A L R E S O U R C E S

“Paloma Negra” “Paloma Negra” performed by Chavela Vargas performed by Lola Beltrán https://youtu.be/OanOkaXRvoM https://youtu.be/OanOkaXRvoM from the Frida soundtrack

“No Nos Moveran” performed by Joan Baez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYXV0XqqEdM

Dolores Huerta and unified women at an open-air mass for striking farm workers during the Grape Strike, Delano California, 1966.

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Soy pan, soy paz, soy más

by Mercedes Sosa

At the end of the play, this is the song all of the women sing together

https://youtu.be/0SL6BEgaFIU

soy agua, playa, cielo, casa, planta,

soy mar, Atlántico, viento y América,

soy un montón de cosas santas

mezclado con cosas humanas

como te explico . . . cosas mundanas.

Fui niño, cuna , teta, techo, manta,

más miedo, cuco, grito, llanto, raza,

después cambiaron las palabras

se escapaban las miradas

algo pasó . . . no entendí nada.

Vamos, contame, decime,

todo lo que a vos te está pasando ahora,

porque sino cuando está el alma sóla llora

hay que sacarlo todo afuera, como la primavera

nadie quiere que adentro algo se muera

hablar mirándose a los ojos sacar lo que se puede afuera

para que adentro nazcan cosas nuevas, nuevas, nuevas… nuevas.

P A G E ! O F !2 1 4 9

T E A C H E R R E S O U R C E S

La Malinche (1496-1529)

Doña Marina, Cortés Translator http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson6/lesson6.php?s=0

La Malinche – Translator and Companion to Cortés http://www.mexonline.com/history-lamalinche.htm

San Antonio Poet Laureate, Carmen Tafolla reading her poem, “La Malinche” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV9eMp43xx0

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695)

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Biography http://www.biography.com/people/sor-juana-in%C3%A9s-de-la-cruz-38178

Poet, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/sor-juana-in%C3%A9s-de-la-cruz

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Juana Ramírez de Abaje) http://www.latin-american.cam.ac.uk/SorJuana/

Lucy Parsons (1853-1942)

Lucy Parsons: Woman of Will http://lucyparsons.org/biography-iww.php

Lucy Parsons Biography http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-parsons-214112

Parson, Lucy Gonzales https://zinnedproject.org/materials/lucy-gonzales-parsons/

Teresita Urrea (1873-1906)

Texas State Historical Association https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fur04

Saint Teresita of Cabora http://www.luisurrea.com/teres/teresita.php

Slideshow: Teresita Urrea, the Saint of Cabora https://vimeo.com/41589009

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Herlinda Wong Chew (1893-1939)

The Chew Legacy: The Story of Herlinda Wong Chew 27 (2009) http://epcc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=309255&sid=2891614

Herlinda Wong Chew. http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/49701875

From the Senator’s Desk http://shapleigh.org/news/3767-from-the-senator-s-desk

Soldadera, Graciela Olmos (1895-1962)

A la luz, la increíble historia de Graciela Olmos, La Bandida http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/06/13/index.php?section=espectaculos&article=a06n1esp

Graciela Olmos, de revolucionaria a dueña de un burdel http://cernicalo-mispublicacionesrecientes.blogspot.com/2012/10/graciela-olmos-de-revolucionaria-duena.html

Biografia subterránea de la cultura mexicana http://www.siempre.com.mx/2012/11/biografia-subterranea-de-la-cultura-mexicana/

Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)

The Poetry Foundation http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gabriela-mistral

Nobel Prize http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1945/mistral-facts.html

Gabriela Mistral Foundation http://www.gabrielamistralfoundation.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=15

P A G E ! O F !2 3 4 9

Carmelita Torres (1899/1900-?)

Indignity on the border https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nz-253RaQo

Crossing the line http://articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/27/opinion/oe-romo27

The Gas bath Riot and Other Tales of Mexican American Resistance http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/30/the-gas-bath-riot-and-other-tales-of-mexican-american-resistance/

Tales from the Morgue http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/morgue/2008/10/order-to-bathe.html

Injecting Racist Hysteria http://scalar.usc.edu/works/injecting-racist-hysteria-how-media-coverage-of-the-2009-h1n1-swine-flu-virus-raises-questions-about-border-security-nafta-and-mexican-representation-in-us-culture-/coming-to-associate-disease-with-mexico

The Bath Riots https://zinnedproject.org/materials/ringside-seat-to-a-revolution/

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Frida Kahlo Website http://www.fridakahlo.com/

The Frida Kahlo Foundation http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/

Frida Kahlo and her paintings http://www.fridakahlo.org/

Emma Tenayuca (1916-1999)

Americans who Tell the Truth http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/emma-tenayuca

The Civil Rights Movement http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/tenayuca.html

Zinn Education Project https://zinnedproject.org/materials/thats-not-fair-no-es-justo/

P A G E ! O F !2 4 4 9

Dolores Huerta (1930-present)

Dolores Huerta Foundation http://doloreshuerta.org/dolores-huerta/

Dolores Huerta Biography http://www.biography.com/people/dolores-huerta-188850

National Women’s History Museum https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/dolores-fernandez-huerta/

Gloria Anzaldua (1942-2004)

Gloria Anzaldua Biography http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/anzaldua.php

Chicana Feminist Writer http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feministpoetry/a/gloria_anzaldua.htm

Gloria Anzaldua: Reflections from the Borderland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI6AGsbHMFc

The Poetry Foundation http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gloria-e-anzaldua

Comandanta Ramona (1959-2006)

Revolutionary Women http://www.agirlsguidetotakingovertheworld.co.uk/#!comandante-ramona/c1qkm

Who is Comandanta Ramona? http://schoolsforchiapas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Who-is-Comandanta-Ramona_.pdf

Adventures in Feministory http://bitchmagazine.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-comandante-ramona-zapatista

La Lorona

Cihuacoatl, The Goddess of the Earth http://www.zoesaadia.com/historia-en-el-calmecac/cihuacoatl-the-goddess-of-the-earth/

Cihuacoatl http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/cihuacoatl.html

P A G E ! O F !2 5 4 9

Sonia Sotomayor (1954-present)

Sonia Sotomayor Biography http://www.biography.com/people/sonia-sotomayor-453906

Supreme Court of the United States http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx

PBS News Hour http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/8-things-didnt-know-supreme-court-justice-sonia-sotomayor/

Forum Theatre – Oppression in the Educational System

Julian Boal Joker's this forum theatre presentation at the University of Puerto Rico as part of New York University's Educational Theatre Program Study Abroad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwFetYMy5Y&list=PLbeMzaJmLS4jHnrCeGhzsbFu5WlZ6VFe8&index=5

Theatre of the Oppressed: The State of Equity

A short video produced in Portland, OR of a Legislative Forum Theatre with community real stories performed to engage people to seek collective solutions for situations of oppression: "Doulas", "Don't Blame Me", "Patron, Amigo o Ladron?", "Corporate World", guided by Theatre of the Oppressed Joker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VbjSTAIOOE&list=PLbeMzaJmLS4jHnrCeGhzsbFu5WlZ6VFe8&index=6

Theater of the Oppressed – NYC

A short video demonstrating the process of creating and presenting a Theatre of the Oppressed/Forum Theatre play. From "It Could Happen to You" by the Jan Hus Homeless Theatre Troupe, facilitated by Katy Rubin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi1HfSiMxCU&list=PLbeMzaJmLS4jHnrCeGhzsbFu5WlZ6VFe8

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P A G E ! O F !2 7 4 9

L I B R O S

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W O M E N O F T H E A M E R I C A S

C O L O R I N G B O O K Images by Jeses “CIMI” Alvarado

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M U J E R M E X I C A

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M A L I N T Z I N

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S O R J U A N A

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L U C I A G O N Z A L E Z P A R S O N S

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T E R E S A U R R E A

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H E R L I N D A W O N G C H E W

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G R A C I E L A O L M O S

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C A R M E L I TA T O R R E S

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F R I D A K A H L O

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E M M A T E N AY U C A

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L A L L O R O N A

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M E

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My Story

A B O U T T H E A R T I S T

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Jesus “CIMI” Alvarado is an El Paso, Texas native, and began his artistic career

experimenting with graffiti art. Following his studies under Gaspar Enriquez at

Bowie High School, Alvarado delved into public art projects, which often included

educational components and community involvement. His efforts have included an

intensive, ongoing mural education program in Dallas, Texas; two full-scale murals

created with students from the El Paso, Texas Juvenile Detention Center; and two

large murals depicting the history and culture of El Paso, Texas. Alvarado’s recent

public works involved community brainstorming, input, and inspiration through

both community meetings and written, anonymous surveys. Alvarado’s artwork has

been featured in shows in Mexico City; Buenos Aires, Argentina; the El Paso

Museum of Art; the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; and Cd. Juárez, Mexico -

“Binational Art Exhibit” Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.

You can learn more about CIMI and his artistry here:

http://www.cimione.com/about/