Womxn's History Month Post 4

Sylvia Mendez

Sylvia Mendez was born in Santa Ana, California. She is an American civil rights activist and a nurse. As a youth she was at the center of Mendez v. Westminster, a federal court ruling in the 1940s that school segregation of Hispanic children was unconstitutional. This case banned segregation in California public schools and paved the way for the national ban on segregated schools in Brown vs. Board of Education seven years later. Her advocacy for educational opportunity has promoted #socialjustice. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2011.

Sophie Cruz

Sophie Cruz, is a 7th grader at KIPP Corazón Academy, and is known as one of the youngest activists in the world. She is a political activist for #immigrantjustice . Sophie is the daughter of two undocumented immigrants from Oaxaca, Mexico. In September 2015, at the age five, she wrote a note to the Pope to support the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program in D.C. She spoke at the Women's March on Washington in 2017.

Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa was a Mexican-American scholar from Texas. Gloria fought segregation throughout her own education and early career as a teacher. Her early activism, involved the farmworkers movement expanding the conversation for #immigrantjustice. In her work she brought attention to the impact on machismo in the Latinx community. Gloria has published many highly-influential books that center on radical Women of Color. Her most famous work is Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Gloria paved the way for a more intersectional feminism, especially inclusive of #Chicanawomen .

Yessenia Funes

Yessenia Funes is a Salvadorian-American and queer-identified person. Yessenia is a climate activist  who educates the public through her writing. Yessenia work highlights how #climatechange has a more severe effect on marginalized communities. Some of her recent work covered topics like how Trump’s border wall threatens wildlife and emerging technology to help farmers generate clean energy while growing food.