By Sharon Snyder “The heart of history is the power of memory, the creation of tradition, the significance of place, the importance of stories, the richness of language, the meanings of silence, and the employment of imagination.” That quote from Arizona State University Professor Peter Iverson shows the vast…
1881 By Priscilla Solis Ybarra, Ph.D. Adelina (Nina) Otero Warren—suffragist, educator, politician, entrepreneur, and writer– was born in 1881 in La Constancia, New Mexico, near Los Lunas. She was the second child of Manuel B. Otero and Eloisa Luna Otero. Both her parents had deep roots in New Mexico,…
by Lena McQuade In Spanish partera means midwife or a person who assists women during labor and delivery. In New Mexico, parteras are usually Spanish speaking, empirically trained, midwives. It is estimated that between 800 and 900 women practiced as parteras in the early 1900s. By 1951 there were…
By Allegra Huston In January 2002, as I sat in a New York City taxi on my way into Manhattan from JFK airport, I was suddenly hit with waves of nausea. I clenched my stomach, determined to hold on until I reached my friend’s apartment. She was four months…
Frances Webster Léon was born on August 6, 1917 in Irvington, New York. In 1940 at the age of 23, she married Morris H. Swadesh. Their marriage lasted until 1958, but she continued to use the surname Swadesh until 1978 when she married Miguel F. Quintana. Thereafter she…
7 20 1827 by Denise Damico Eighteen-year-old Susan Shelby Magoffin left Independence, Missouri, to travel “Down the Santa Fe Trail and Into Mexico” in June, 1846, accompanied by her husband, Samuel Magoffin, a variety of servants and employees, and her dog, Ring. She was one of the first Anglo-American…
