During the fight for women’s suffrage in California, the support of Latinx voters was essential. Maria Guadalupe Evangelina Lopez fought for suffrage, taught at the high school and university level, flew an airplane, and was an ambulance driver in WWI. She was the first (confirmed) Latina to teach at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and, as of 1902, their youngest professor. She was also the first person in The United States of America to make speeches about women’s suffrage in Spanish.
Lopez was born in Los Angeles, California in 1881. She was one of several children. Her father was a blacksmith and her mother and oldest sister stayed at home. The oldest sister earned money as a seamstress but was unable to get much formal education, and not much is known about the other siblings. However, most of the children had grown up and either moved out or gotten work to supplement the family income, which allowed de Lopez and one other sister to graduate from high school. After marrying Hugh Lowther, a professor, she became Maria Lopez de Lowther.
Lopez was a member of the Los Angeles Votes For Women Club and president of the College Equal Suffrage League. During the (successful) campaign for suffrage of 1911, she translated the speeches of others from English to Spanish, as well as delivering her own speeches in both languages.
Dear Bitches, I could barely find any information on this amazing woman. Even her name has multiple variations. This was frustrating. For one thing, I’m dying to know more about the plane and the ambulance, which are just barely mentioned in Wikipedia, and possibly backed up by a single photo from WWI archives (posted at the bottom of this post).
For another, I’m angry that I’ve lived in California for most of my life and until now had no knowledge about this woman and other Latina suffragettes. What you see here specifically with regard to Lopez comes from Wikipedia (not the most reliable source on the planet) and alexanderstreet.com as well as Earning Power: Women and Work in Los Angeles by Eileen Wallis. I also used Women Suffrage in the West and Voting Rights Timeline.
It is important to recognize that not all women were able to vote in California upon passage of the 19th Amendment. Native Americans were denied citizenship until 1924, and they, as well as African Americans, faced a variety of obstacles at the polls even after that time. Meanwhile a variety of laws and practices denied the vote to most Asian Americans until 1952. Voting rights remain a very real and vital issue today. For more information on voting rights, and ways to take action, here are some suggestions:
https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights
https://www.rockthevote.org/understanding-voting-rights/know-your-voting-rights/
https://www.lwv.org/voting-rights
Thank you, Carrie, for bringing her to our attention. She sounds fabulous!
Now, for someone to do some real digging and write her bio.
This is the wholesome content I really needed right now, thank you so much!!
Sorry, I think a caption has a typo and should be Pasadena, Padadena. Large city close to Los Angeles.