Martha P. Cotera
[4] Later, in 1971, she earned a master's degree in education from a satellite campus of Antioch College, which is based in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
She first became involved with PASSO (Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations) and in 1964 in the following years she and her husband also began working with the farmworkers movement.
When the walkouts occurred in Crystal City, Texas in 1968, Cotera and her family moved there to work as tutors for the striking students.
[13] In 1975 Cotera began working as a special staff consultant with the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas.
Her position was terminated in 2009 to the dismay of the many Mexican American community activists, artists, and writers whose papers she had located.
[14] In her introduction Cotera states, The Mexican American woman as a human being, as a topic for research, or as the object of a project or curricula is an elusive being.
Similar to other Chicana feminist authors of that era she re-imagines the historical legacy of Malinalli Tenepal (La Malinche), reclaiming her as positive female figure.
Covering the decades from 1900-1960 she provides numerous biographies and accounts of Mexicana/Chicana women, illustrating their historical presence in the struggles for independence and equality.
She writes, By understanding the past, Chicana historians hope that contemporary women will be better equipped to cope with the present and to determine their future ...
In her analysis of family life and education, Cotera mentions several times that neither social class nor gender did not limit participation.
However, she does not romanticize historical fact, emphasizing that women and girls were held to high moral standards subject to severe punishment if they fell out of line.
Women also assumed part-time duties outside the home in addition to housework.Here she has laid the groundwork for the argument against stereotypical beliefs that Chicanas have not played a significant historical role in the establishment and maintenance of Chicano identity.
Led by Hernán Cortés, this marked the beginning of an era in which, Cotera notes, "Women saw themselves totally defenseless in a world of humiliation, abuse, and slavery.
Thereby dictating that the contemporary demand on Chicanas to remain submissive and dedicated to domesticity is a colonially imposed attitude.
While she does pay particular attention to Doña Marina, re-imagining her role in Mestizaje, her careful illustration that there were also other notable indigenous women who intermarried with Spaniards is distinct from other Chicana authors of her time.
Mexicanas and the War for Independence of Mexico Making a great leap forward in history, Cotera moves on to an era of resistance.
She describes Doña Maria Josefa Ortíz de Dominquez as a fearless woman in not only the struggle for independence from Spain but also resistance to the subjugation of women in the eras of colonial rule.
Chicana feminists and historians through research writing and active participation in curriculum projects are taking a direct hand to see that this happens."
It serves as a direct response to criticisms from Chicano civil rights groups and political parties that Chicana's were being "Anglocized" in their demands for gender equality.
Symposium on Women in Public Life in Austin, Texas, November 11, 1975 this speech was also published in the periodical Hembra in the Spring 1976 issue.
She addresses the fears of the Chicano community that Chicana feminists are being Anglocized in their pursuit for what are considered "non-traditional" roles for women.
