"Mexican children in Texas need an education.. There is no other means to do it but ourselves, so that we are not devalued and humiliated by the strangers who surround us." "Working women know their rights and proudly rise to face the struggle. The hour of their degradation is past.. Women are no longer servants but rather the equals of men, companions to them" --- Jovita Idar
Jovita Idar
1885 - 1946
"Por La Raza y Para La Raza"
It was a tumultuous time for Mexicans in Texas when Jovita Idar became a
forever to be remembered "Heroine of La Raza." This was a period in our
history when the Mexican Revolution was raging and the Texas Rangers, or
"los rinches", were routinely lynching Mexican-Americans and Mexican
children, women and men who were crossing the border to seek refuge from
the revolution.
Jovita Idar was born in Laredo, Texas in 1885 to Nicasio Clemente and
Jovita Vivero and was one of eight children. In 1903 at the age of 18
years she earned a teaching certificate from the Holding Institute in
Laredo and taught in a small school but the conditions in which she had to
teach Mexican children so frustrated her that she decided to join her two
brothers as a writer for her father's newspaper "La Cronica." She believed
that by becoming a journalist and an activist she would be more effective
in changing the deplorable conditions that existed in the public schools
for Mexican children. During this time, Mexican school children were
completely segregated and, in many occasions, totally excluded.
Throughout 1910 and 1911 she wrote weekly articles that called for equal
educational treatment and exposed the extreme discrimination against
Mexican children in the public schools. In addition, Jovita Idar started
writing about the atrocities being committed by the Texas Rangers against
Mexicans. She wrote about the lynching and hanging of a Mexican child in
Thorndale, Texas by the Texas Ranchers and the brutal burning at the stake
of 20 year old Antonio Rodriguez in Rocksprings, Texas. Of Antonio
Rodriguez, she wrote, "The crowd cheered when the flames engulfed his
contorted body. They did not even turn away at the smell of his burning
flesh and I wondered if they even knew his name. There are so many dead
that sometimes I can't remember all their names."
The intolerable racism and brutality against Mexicans in South Texas made
Jovita Idar to take bolder actions. In 1911 her newspaper, La Cronica,
called for the formation of "La Gran Liga Mexicanista de Beneficencia y
Proteccion" in order for the community to work together "en virtud de los
lazos de sangre que nos unen." In the same year "La Liga" sponsored the
"Primer Congreso Mexicanista" and adopted the motto "Por La Raza y Para La
Raza" and its primary mission was the protection of Mexican-Americans
against the racist and brutal actions of "los rinches" and Anglos. Her
actions were both courageous and extremely dangerous.
From the "Primer Congreso Mexicanista" also came the formation of the
first feminist organization called "Liga Femenil Mexicanista." Jovita Idar
and other women formed their own schools and allowed poor Mexican children
to attend for free. The organization also provided free food and clothing
for the needy in the community. The organization met at Jovita Idar's
parents home and La Cronica published the organization's news and fund
raising activities.
As the Mexican revolutionary class struggle across the border grew
increasingly more turbulent, the repression of the Texas Rangers and
Anglos against Mexican-Americans and Mexican refugees became increasingly
more violent. The Anglos feared that the revolutionary fervor in Mexico
would spread to Texas. In 1913 Jovita Idar started writing articles in
favor of the revolutionary forces of Francisco Villa and crossed the
border to serve as a nurse in the Cruz Blanca on the side of General
Villa. This attracted the attention of the federal government and the
Texas Rangers.
When she returned to Laredo in 1914 and wrote an article critical of
Woodrow Wilson's deployment of troops to the border, the infamous Texas
Rangers came to Laredo to destroy Jovita Idar's printing presses. Texas
Rangers Hicks, Ramsey, Chamberlain and another, who's name is not known,
came up to the door and found Jovita Idar blocking the entrance with her
hands firmly grasping the frame and feet planted on the threshold. "Los
rinches" asked her to move out of the way but Jovita Idar stood her
ground. A crowd gathered to witness the spectacle. In one of the greatest
moments of bravery by a Mexican-American woman, "los rinches" backed down
and left town. The newspaper, the voice of La Raza, was safe for a while,
but only for a short while because the cowardly Texas Rangers came back in
the stealth of night and with sledgehammers broke open the doors and with
heavy blows smashed the presses, the linotype machines, the ink containers
and the wooden table with the the lines of types. The destruction of the
"little newspaper" as they called it was complete. They had silenced a
strong and effective voice for political and social justice for
Mexican-Americans in South Texas.
In 1917 at the age of 32 years Jovita Idar married Bartolo Juarez and both
moved to safer territory in San Antonio, Texas. Mrs. Jovita Idar-Juarez
did not stop her activism in married life but went on to organize "El Club
Democrata" within the Democratic Party to politically empower the
Mexican-American community. In 1920 she founded a free bilingual
kindergarten school and continued her work as a writer and educator until
her death in 1946 at the age of 61 years. She and her husband had no
children.
* * * * * * *
"Hay que trabajar juntos en virtud de los lazos de sangre que nos unen."
-- Jovita Idar 1911
Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jovita_Idar
and
http://www.utexas.edu/gtw/idar.php
......................
Link to original site: Aztlan Communications Network
http://www.aztlan.net/default5.htm
..........................