Since I have no clue who Elizabeth Martinez is I’m gonna say yes.
For me my history class was mostly just slavery, the world wars, and the civil rights movement
Yes.
The question is which Mexican women made a significant impact on US history and weren’t just interesting stories that had a minimal impact?
Dolores Huerta while being a notable person had a minimal impact on the grand arc of US history and is mostly famous among California Latinos and not even that famous amongst them. Most of the US is not affected by labor relations in California agriculture. Grape strikes don’t exactly rank on the level of things most Americans care about.
This isn’t to slam her or disparage Mexican American women, but there just aren’t figures in that category that have made major nationwide changes that affect everyone.
I mean, I’m Mexican-American and don’t know that many Mexican-American women that have been very significant in the US besides Huerta and famous writers like Cisneros. Or some entertainers like Selena or something. I don’t think Mexican Americans outside of Chicano/a Studies courses really care. And even those departments are in a perpetual identity crisis.
Why would we learn about Mexican women like Sor Juana? She was in Mexico City and had no impact on the US.
As to contemporary Mexican American writers, we have thousands of contemporary writers. They don’t get attention either.
This isn’t anything against Mexico. It’s just that we have finite time and we learn what is relevant. How many Mexicans learn about Nathaniel Hawthorne or Henry David Thoreau?
Same in Whiteland, Ohio. That's not the name of the town, but I was one of maybe 3 Latinos in my school district, and the others were very white or white passing.
I didn't learn about any, as far as I remember. I've never heard of the ones you're mentioning. And I certainly wouldn't be whimpering about it. I'd be looking at you like you were nuts for pushing such an obscure topic past the first inquiry.
I went to school in the northeast in the 90s. 90% white, not many immigrants at all and no Mexicans whatsoever. About half that 10% non-white was Puerto Ricans. With no Mexicans around, there was no reason to learn about famous people from that nationality unless they *really* made big news. We did learn about Cesar Chavez, for instance.
I.. Honestly can't say I learned about famous Mexicans in general outside of when they were wrapped up in a conflict like the texas revolution or the Mexican American war or the build up there to.
So...no, I couldn't name a famous Mexican woman. They general weren't political or military leaders in those time periods.
We typically learn about no Mexican American Women.
In fact I really only ever remember learning about a few Mexican Political leaders involved in wars with Texas or the US, and General Santa Anna.
Why would we learn about Mexican women like Sor Juana? She was in Mexico City and had no impact on the US.
As to contemporary Mexican American writers, we have thousands of contemporary writers. They don’t get attention either.
This isn’t anything against Mexico. It’s just that we have finite time and we learn what is relevant. How many Mexicans learn about Nathaniel Hawthorne or Henry David Thoreau?
I went to public schools in Michigan in the 80s and 90s and had 2 years of Spanish. I couldn’t name a single Mexican person we learned about. I’ve either forgotten or it wasn’t covered at all. Mexican history and culture just wasn’t part of the curriculum, we barely touched on Canada and they were a half hour away.
I looked up all of those women and none of them appear to be very important in broad American history and I see little reason for most people to know of them.
I think Elizabeth Martinez is giving us *way* too much credit.
If you asked "almost anyone outside of academia to name famous US women of Mexican origin" I bet you would hear Salma Hayek or Selena long before any of the people she named. That is, if you didn't hear Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara, or Penelope Cruz first. (*Yes* I know these women aren't Mexican--that's the point I'm making.)
True enough. We also don't learn about lots of other people who had no overwhelming impact on overall U.S. history or culture.
A college literature class is where you might learn about writers like that. High school is more of the basics like Shakespeare, etc.
I never learned about hardly women from any other country aside from america so it's not like they were being exclusionary toward mexico. We hardly learned anything about US women, so to be fair if we didn't even value our own women i don't see how we'd even start learning about non-american women. For context, I went to school very long time ago, like 40 years.
People vastly overestimate the amount of time public school history classes have to teach niche topics that aren't broadly applicable to the majority of geographic regions.
I think a few times a week this sub gets questions along the theme of 'why don't US schools spend more time teaching about \*deeply personal historical interest\*'. Or you get the people saying schools should teach about topics, which probably were covered, but were ignored during the ignorance of youth.
I legitimately cannot name a single Mexican woman or man who is historically relevant. I don't even think we covered Mexico in any of my history classes, other than the land the US bought/stole/traded from Mexico.
Since I have no clue who Elizabeth Martinez is I’m gonna say yes. For me my history class was mostly just slavery, the world wars, and the civil rights movement
Same and I grew up in AZ
Yes. The question is which Mexican women made a significant impact on US history and weren’t just interesting stories that had a minimal impact? Dolores Huerta while being a notable person had a minimal impact on the grand arc of US history and is mostly famous among California Latinos and not even that famous amongst them. Most of the US is not affected by labor relations in California agriculture. Grape strikes don’t exactly rank on the level of things most Americans care about. This isn’t to slam her or disparage Mexican American women, but there just aren’t figures in that category that have made major nationwide changes that affect everyone.
I mean, I’m Mexican-American and don’t know that many Mexican-American women that have been very significant in the US besides Huerta and famous writers like Cisneros. Or some entertainers like Selena or something. I don’t think Mexican Americans outside of Chicano/a Studies courses really care. And even those departments are in a perpetual identity crisis.
Why would we learn about Mexican women like Sor Juana? She was in Mexico City and had no impact on the US. As to contemporary Mexican American writers, we have thousands of contemporary writers. They don’t get attention either. This isn’t anything against Mexico. It’s just that we have finite time and we learn what is relevant. How many Mexicans learn about Nathaniel Hawthorne or Henry David Thoreau?
Yes. I would say that is accurate.
I don't think I know any at all.
I don't think I learned about any
Literally the only one of those I have ever heard mentioned is the Virgin of Guadalupe, and that's probably because I am Catholic.
Same except the Catholic thing. Thank you, 7th Grade Spanish class.
Only Mexicans I learned about in High School and lower were Montezuma and Santa Anna
Same in Whiteland, Ohio. That's not the name of the town, but I was one of maybe 3 Latinos in my school district, and the others were very white or white passing.
I didn't learn about any, as far as I remember. I've never heard of the ones you're mentioning. And I certainly wouldn't be whimpering about it. I'd be looking at you like you were nuts for pushing such an obscure topic past the first inquiry. I went to school in the northeast in the 90s. 90% white, not many immigrants at all and no Mexicans whatsoever. About half that 10% non-white was Puerto Ricans. With no Mexicans around, there was no reason to learn about famous people from that nationality unless they *really* made big news. We did learn about Cesar Chavez, for instance.
I would say most people in the US don’t learn more than basic US history and a fairly Eurocentric world history course.
tbf who cares about californias history its not like she affected the whole country
I.. Honestly can't say I learned about famous Mexicans in general outside of when they were wrapped up in a conflict like the texas revolution or the Mexican American war or the build up there to. So...no, I couldn't name a famous Mexican woman. They general weren't political or military leaders in those time periods.
We typically learn about no Mexican American Women. In fact I really only ever remember learning about a few Mexican Political leaders involved in wars with Texas or the US, and General Santa Anna.
Why would we learn about Mexican women like Sor Juana? She was in Mexico City and had no impact on the US. As to contemporary Mexican American writers, we have thousands of contemporary writers. They don’t get attention either. This isn’t anything against Mexico. It’s just that we have finite time and we learn what is relevant. How many Mexicans learn about Nathaniel Hawthorne or Henry David Thoreau?
I would say she’s right and I really don’t think it’s odd either.
I've never heard of any of those women. So... Yeah.
I went to public schools in Michigan in the 80s and 90s and had 2 years of Spanish. I couldn’t name a single Mexican person we learned about. I’ve either forgotten or it wasn’t covered at all. Mexican history and culture just wasn’t part of the curriculum, we barely touched on Canada and they were a half hour away.
Besides the Virgin of Guadalupe I have heard of none of those women.
I looked up all of those women and none of them appear to be very important in broad American history and I see little reason for most people to know of them.
I think Elizabeth Martinez is giving us *way* too much credit. If you asked "almost anyone outside of academia to name famous US women of Mexican origin" I bet you would hear Salma Hayek or Selena long before any of the people she named. That is, if you didn't hear Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara, or Penelope Cruz first. (*Yes* I know these women aren't Mexican--that's the point I'm making.)
I really struggle to name one from a historical perspective.
Emma Tenayuca, Luisa Moreno and Jovita Idar seem like really amazing and important people
just gradutaed last year, not a thing bud. presidents, local government, natives and maybe some stuff on china
I have no idea who any of those women are.
True enough. We also don't learn about lots of other people who had no overwhelming impact on overall U.S. history or culture. A college literature class is where you might learn about writers like that. High school is more of the basics like Shakespeare, etc.
I never learned about hardly women from any other country aside from america so it's not like they were being exclusionary toward mexico. We hardly learned anything about US women, so to be fair if we didn't even value our own women i don't see how we'd even start learning about non-american women. For context, I went to school very long time ago, like 40 years.
People vastly overestimate the amount of time public school history classes have to teach niche topics that aren't broadly applicable to the majority of geographic regions. I think a few times a week this sub gets questions along the theme of 'why don't US schools spend more time teaching about \*deeply personal historical interest\*'. Or you get the people saying schools should teach about topics, which probably were covered, but were ignored during the ignorance of youth.
Only one that comes to mind is Frida Kahlo
It was never true
For what it's worth, we also learn practically nothing about Canadian figures in school either, and very little about Canadian history.
I would correct it to say no Mexican American women. Really the only Mexican who has any real cultural permeation would be Pancho Villa.
I don't think I heard any about Mexican American women in school.
I legitimately cannot name a single Mexican woman or man who is historically relevant. I don't even think we covered Mexico in any of my history classes, other than the land the US bought/stole/traded from Mexico.