Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

A brief history of Hispanic Women in the United States


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Hispanic women of Latin American heritage in the United States have a long and important history. Thousands of Hispanic women can trace their ancestry in territories that became part of the United States back to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, well before the great waves of European and Asian immigrants.
It is difficult to find direct evidence of women from the sources for this period, even in a culture whose members retain their mother’s lineage as a second last name. Nevertheless, historians know that countless women among the descendants of the original settlers, the Indians who lived with them, and others who had joined them were indispensable to the establishment and maintenance of their communities.
Women labored under often difficult circumstances, particularly when other colonizing powers or indigenous peoples such as the Comanches and the Apaches attacked their homes. Some evidence of the influence of Hispanic women during these times can be gleaned from several manuscript and microfilm collections around the country, such as the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, the Santa Barbara Mission Collection, and the East Florida Papers, among others.
The first Hispanic women were born in Saint Augustine, Florida, after its settlement by Spaniards in 1565. When missionaries founded the “Nombre de Dios” Mission there in 1566, female members of the Timucua-speaking Indian nobility such as Chief Doña María were converted to Christianity and married Spanish soldiers. On April 2, 1606, the mission held a service of confirmation for two hundred Indians, two hundred Spaniards, and Doña María and her children in the church in Saint.
In 1820, the United States absorbed Spanish Florida; the following year, when Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the communities of the “Provincias Internas” chose to stay with Mexico rather than become independent themselves. These communities continued to develop during the years between Mexican independence in 1821 and the Mexican-American War in 1846-48. As soon as Mexico became independent from Spain, Anglo settlers from the United States emigrated to Texas, still part of Mexico, to settle on large tracts of rich land the government offered at bargain prices to populate the territory.
The most famous woman of the period, María Gertrudis Barceló (known as “La Tules”), started her first gambling casino in the Ortiz Mountains of New Mexico in 1825. In 1836 the Anglos living in Texas defeated the Mexican army and proclaimed themselves independent. Meanwhile, La Tules opened a casino in Santa Fe under the protection of Governor Manuel Armijo, catering to Anglo traders on the Santa Fe Trail and local residents alike. Over time she became a folkloric heroine.
In 1845 Texas decided to join the United States, setting the stage for the Mexican-American War, which broke out the following year. When the fighting began, the other areas of the “Provincias Internas” became fair game, so that following the victory of the United States in 1848, the northern nation had conquered not just Texas, but California, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Utah, and Oklahoma. Hispanic women played an important role in the life of these geographical areas and communities.
They also had a key role in fostering the Cuban and Puerto Rican independence movements. In New York, Emilia Casanova de Villaverde established the “Liga de Hijas de Cuba” (League of Daughters of Cuba) in the 1870s. After Cubans were defeated in their first war of independence against Spain (1868-78), more than one hundred thousand emigrated to the United States. Before the next war, Cuban and Puerto Rican women founded additional clubs. Cubans began their second war of liberation, which sparked the Spanish-American War. Following the U.S. victory in 1898, the island of Puerto Rico, first explored by the Spanish in 1503, became a commonwealth of the United States, and in 1917 Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens. Puerto Rican and Cuban women became increasingly aligned with the U.S. economy and social customs during this period.
Many Hispanic women came as immigrants to the United States throughout the twentieth century. From 1910 to 1930, more than a million Mexicans came to the United States to escape from the Mexican Revolution, or to join neighbors and other family members who had already made the trek northward, and settled where plentiful and financially rewarding jobs in mines, railroads, and farms held the promise of a better life. By 1926 Hispanic women in Los Angeles had founded “La Sociedad de Madres Mexicanas” (the Society of Mexican Mothers), a civil rights group that raised money to pay for the defense of Hispanics charged with crimes.
During the 1960s hundreds of thousands of Cubans emigrated to Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland, settling mostly in Florida and the East Coast, to escape from the Castro Revolution. That same decade witnessed the growth of the civil rights movement when many Mexican American women activists who wanted to emphasize their dual Indian and Spanish heritage began calling themselves “Chicanas” to demonstrate their commitment to the struggle for racial, ethnic, and gender equality.
According to the U.S. Census of 2000, Hispanic women represented almost 16 million (11%) of a total female population of 139 million that year. Today, Mexican American women are the most significant Latina population in the country by far, numbering 10 million or 63% of all Latinas. The next largest group to be identified by a single origin were the Puerto Rican women, who represented 1.6 million. Cuban women formed the third largest single group at 713,000 of Latinas.  The 2010 census will increase these numbers and the important presence of Hispanic women in our American society.
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Women, indispensable to the establishment of their communities

Hispanic women of Latin American heritage in the United States have a long and important history. Thousands of Hispanic women can trace their ancestry in territories that became part of the United States back to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, well before the great waves of European and Asian immigrants.

It is difficult to find direct evidence of women from the sources for this period, even in a culture whose members retain their mother’s lineage as a second last name. Nevertheless, historians know that countless women among the descendants of the original settlers, the Indians who lived with them, and others who had joined them were indispensable to the establishment and maintenance of their communities.

Women labored under often difficult circumstances, particularly when other colonizing powers or indigenous peoples such as the Comanches and the Apaches attacked their homes. Some evidence of the influence of Hispanic women during these times can be gleaned from several manuscript and microfilm collections around the country, such as the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, the Santa Barbara Mission Collection, and the East Florida Papers, among others.

The first Hispanic women were born in Saint Augustine, Florida, after its settlement by Spaniards in 1565. When missionaries founded the “Nombre de Dios” Mission there in 1566, female members of the Timucua-speaking Indian nobility such as Chief Doña María were converted to Christianity and married Spanish soldiers. On April 2, 1606, the mission held a service of confirmation for two hundred Indians, two hundred Spaniards, and Doña María and her children in the church in Saint.

In 1820, the United States absorbed Spanish Florida; the following year, when Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the communities of the “Provincias Internas” chose to stay with Mexico rather than become independent themselves. These communities continued to develop during the years between Mexican independence in 1821 and the Mexican-American War in 1846-48. As soon as Mexico became independent from Spain, Anglo settlers from the United States emigrated to Texas, still part of Mexico, to settle on large tracts of rich land the government offered at bargain prices to populate the territory.

The most famous woman of the period, María Gertrudis Barceló (known as “La Tules”), started her first gambling casino in the Ortiz Mountains of New Mexico in 1825. In 1836 the Anglos living in Texas defeated the Mexican army and proclaimed themselves independent. Meanwhile, La Tules opened a casino in Santa Fe under the protection of Governor Manuel Armijo, catering to Anglo traders on the Santa Fe Trail and local residents alike. Over time she became a folkloric heroine.

In 1845 Texas decided to join the United States, setting the stage for the Mexican-American War, which broke out the following year. When the fighting began, the other areas of the “Provincias Internas” became fair game, so that following the victory of the United States in 1848, the northern nation had conquered not just Texas, but California, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Utah, and Oklahoma. Hispanic women played an important role in the life of these geographical areas and communities.

They also had a key role in fostering the Cuban and Puerto Rican independence movements. In New York, Emilia Casanova de Villaverde established the “Liga de Hijas de Cuba” (League of Daughters of Cuba) in the 1870s. After Cubans were defeated in their first war of independence against Spain (1868-78), more than one hundred thousand emigrated to the United States. Before the next war, Cuban and Puerto Rican women founded additional clubs. Cubans began their second war of liberation, which sparked the Spanish-American War. Following the U.S. victory in 1898, the island of Puerto Rico, first explored by the Spanish in 1503, became a commonwealth of the United States, and in 1917 Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens. Puerto Rican and Cuban women became increasingly aligned with the U.S. economy and social customs during this period.

Many Hispanic women came as immigrants to the United States throughout the twentieth century. From 1910 to 1930, more than a million Mexicans came to the United States to escape from the Mexican Revolution, or to join neighbors and other family members who had already made the trek northward, and settled where plentiful and financially rewarding jobs in mines, railroads, and farms held the promise of a better life. By 1926 Hispanic women in Los Angeles had founded “La Sociedad de Madres Mexicanas” (the Society of Mexican Mothers), a civil rights group that raised money to pay for the defense of Hispanics charged with crimes.

During the 1960s hundreds of thousands of Cubans emigrated to Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland, settling mostly in Florida and the East Coast, to escape from the Castro Revolution. That same decade witnessed the growth of the civil rights movement when many Mexican American women activists who wanted to emphasize their dual Indian and Spanish heritage began calling themselves “Chicanas” to demonstrate their commitment to the struggle for racial, ethnic, and gender equality.

According to the U.S. Census of 2000, Hispanic women represented almost 16 million (11%) of a total female population of 139 million that year. Today, Mexican American women are the most significant Latina population in the country by far, numbering 10 million or 63% of all Latinas. The next largest group to be identified by a single origin were the Puerto Rican women, who represented 1.6 million. Cuban women formed the third largest single group at 713,000 of Latinas.  The 2010 census will increase these numbers and the important presence of Hispanic women in our American society.

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