PROGRAM INFO
- Title:
- Women In The Mexican Revolution
- Program #
- 1981-30
- Theme:
- Identity
- Series:
- Historical Figures, Women's Issues
- Host:
- Linda Fregoso
- Guests:
- Marta Cotera, Shirlene Soto
- Date:
- Apr 2, 1981
Women in the Mexican Revolution
Historian Shirlene Soto discusses the role of women who participated in the Mexican Revolution, and the writer Marta Cotera discusses the legacy of one such woman, La Adelita, and what she symbolizes for the Chicano community. Soto first discusses the historiography of women in the Mexican Revolution. She explains that traditionally historians have ignored women’s participation in wars, and female historians are now uncovering their contributions. Her work has found that during the Mexican Revolution, women from all class and ideological backgrounds participated in the war effort, from producing materials to working as nurses and fighting alongside men. Other women spoke on lecture circuits and wrote propaganda. Many women also served as soldaderas who traveled with the troops, fighting with their partners and providing them with food and other provisions, while simultaneously raising their children.
These soldaderas have been memorialized in literature and song. The heroine of the corrido, La Adelita, in particular, has come to symbolize the role of women in the revolution. Cotera then discusses the symbolic power of the La Adelita. Cotera explains that La Adelita is an archetype of the female leader who defends her people, and which originated in pre-colonial times with the Toltec queen, Xochitl, and has been embodied by all of the women who fought during the War for Independence and the Mexican Revolution. La Adelita has also inspired the Chicano Movement and spurred women like Emma Tenayuca and Dolores Huerta to continue fighting on behalf of their community.
KEYWORDS
Adela VelardeAdolfo Lopez Mateos
Alfredo Villegas
Alvaro Obregon
Antonio del Rioarmenta
Archetypes
Battle of Torreon
Benito Juarez
Carabina 30-30
Chicano Movement
Chihuahua
Constitutional Army
Corridos
Cruz Blanca
Cuba
Diosa y Hembra
Doña Juana Torres
Dolores Huerta
Emiliano Zapata
Emma Tenayuca
Gertrudis Bocanegra
Gustavo Diaz Ordaz
History
Insurgent Mexico
John Reed
Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez
La Adelita
La Valentina
Marta Cotera
Mexican Revolution
Mexico
Nueva Cancion
Nurses
Pancho Villa
Petra Luis Echevala
Rafael Velarde
Red Cross
Rosa Linda Fregoso
Salinas Valley
Shirlene Soto
Silvio Rodriguez
Social Movements
Soldaderas
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
South Texas
Toltecs
Transnationalism
Venustiano Carranza
White Cross
Xochitl