History is written by, and dominated by, men.
Women, however, shape the culture and communities where revolutions unfold.
Many women in pre- and post-Revolutionary Mexico did not fit traditional gender roles.
Many picked up arms to fight in the Mexican Revolution. Other women wielded their pens, calling for the ousting of dictators like Porfirio Díaz. Others made their voices heard from behind convent walls.
Their stories are told in the book “Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico:Portraits of Soldaderas, Saints, and Subversives.”
The book was edited by Ellen Riojas Clark, professor emerita at the University of Texas at San Antonio; Jennifer Speed, historian and research development strategist at Princeton University; and San Antonio-based artist Kathy Sosa.
The women featured in the book include La Malinche, Emma Tenayuca, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Frida Kahlo.
“We had far more women than we could include in a single volume,” said Speed. “You could write four or five more books, at least, from the women who were not included.”
Some of the women featured in the book are proudly described as “badass.”
“I think that that was probably one of the criterias,” said Clark. “Who was the baddest badass of all?”
Hear part 2 of the conversation next week.
