Hispanic and Latino women in America have been involved in journalism for years, using their multilingual skills to reach across cultures and spread news throughout the 19th century until the common era. Hispanic presses provided information important to the Hispanic and Latin American communities and helped to foster and preserve the cultural values that remain today. These presses also "promoted education, provided special-interest columns, and often founded magazines, publishing houses, and bookstores to disseminate the ideas of local and external writers."[1]
During the early twentieth century several women along the Texas-Mexican border inLaredo were instrumental in spreading word about their concern for thecivil rights of Mexicans and disdain for then dictator,Porfirio Díaz, through their writing in Hispanic newspapers.
Jovita Idar, a teacher inOjuelos, began to write for her father's newspaper,La Crónica.[2] In 1910 Jovita's family led the organization of the firstMexican Congress in Texas to protect Mexican-American rights and helped to foundLa Liga Femenil Mexicana, a women's organization led by Idar herself focusing on education reform.[3][4] At the same time another educator,Leonor Villegas de Magnón, began to write for covert revolutionary publications.[5] Villegas "rejected both the ideals of the aristocratic class and the traditional role assigned to women in Mexican society."[6] After moving to Laredo, she began to write for a local newspaper and became a member ofJunta Revolutionaria. Villegras and Idar both worked together inLa Cruz Blanca, a small organization that helped wounded soldiers which Villegras founded and financed.[5] As a result, Villegas wrote about the experiences of the nurses and people ofJuárez inThe Rebel, which was not published until 1994 byArte Público Press.
Sara Estela Ramírez was an educator who joinedPartido Liberal Mexicano, a progressive Mexican political party that consisted of mainly men. She was born in Villa de Progreso, Coahuila, Mexico, in 1881. She completed the public school in Monterrey and graduates in a teachers' college in Saltillo, Coahuila. She was a leader in Partido Liberal Mexicano and she often stand out during the part even when harassment going on. She was also a popular writer among Mexican Americans.[7] Ramírez had her writing published inLa Crónica and another Hispanic newspaper,El Democrata Fronterizo, including two of her own self-publications,La Corregidora andAurora. Ramírez's most popular work wasRise Up!, a poem urging "readers to look beyond traditional definitions of woman’s place [...] It (urged) women to look beyond their role as passive and supportive, finding meaning and action within domestic tasks."[8][9] During this time, Colombian bornBlanca de Moncaleano was also working onPluma Roja ananarchist newspaper based inLos Angeles that contained articles targeted toward women and challenged them to increase their knowledge to create anegalitarian society.[10]
Later, during theChicano Movement,feministAnna Nieto-Gómez helped to found a student Chicana newspaper,Hijas de Cuauhtémoc,[1] atCalifornia State University inLong Beach and "called for a critical view of sexism, citing its presence in Chicano families, in communities, and within the male-dominated Chicano movement."[11] ThroughNieto-Gómez's writing she pointed out what she called "maternal chauvinism" and her views about women and stereotypes about them in the Chicano culture.[12] During this periodFrancisca Flores, another women's rights activist, began writing forLa Luz Magazine andMas Grafíca. Like Nieto-Gómez, Flores found certain elements of the Chicano movement to be sexist and supported rights for Chicano women.[1] Chicano women refers to the women of Mexican descent who are born and/or raised in the United States. Chicano embraced long history and engaged a lot in the political activist history. They always try to fight the gender inequalities that exist within or outside their identity. With this being said, they are sometimes being discriminated against.[13] Flores wrote about her opinions on women's rights in her own magazine,Regeneración and founded theComisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional.
In 1982, while writing for theWashington Post,Alma Guillermoprieto broke the story of theEl Mozote massacre in spite of incredible risk to her life, whereSalvadoran armed forces killed hundreds of people who were thought to beguerrilla sympathizers.[14] Guillermoprieto would go on to write forNewsweek andThe New Yorker, reporting on subjects in South America.
Marie Arana (born in Lima,Peru, and educated in the U.S.) joinedThe Washington Post in 1992. She became deputy editor of "Book World" in 1993 and editor in chief of the section in 1999. She also wrote feature pieces on books, Hispanics, and diversity for other sections of the newspaper, including the front page. She retired from editor of "Book World" to becomeThe Washington Post's writer at large in 2009. She has written a series of op-ed columns on Latin America forThe New York Times.
In the early 1990sAchy Obejas, a Cuban immigrant who grew up inIndiana, started writing for theChicago Tribune,Latina,POZ,The Advocate, and reported on high-profile stories such as theGianni Versace andMatthew Shepard murders. While writing for theChicago Tribune in 2001, Obejas and her team were eventually awarded aPulitzer Prize for their work on "Gateway to Gridlock," an article on the American air traffic system.[16] In her writing Obejas was able to detail her experiences as a lesbian,Jewish, and Cuban immigrant in her fiction and short story collections throughout the nineties.[3] With her novelMemory Mambo, Obejas explored the life of a conflicted Cuban American lesbian and won aLambda Literary Award for her story.
66.8% of journalists are white non-Hispanic compared to Hispanic or Latino (12.6%), Asian (9.6%) and Black or African American (6.4%). There are 6,407 journalists currently in United States[17] Many Black Americans say Black journalists are better at understanding them and covering issues related to race. And they think they can contribute a lot to the society.[18]