Latinas make history!
Although often challenged by other’s preconceptions about their ethnicity and gender, Latinas have broken boundaries, becoming famous astronauts, politicians, artists, designers, writers, musical artists and more. Learn about some Latina leaders and explore how they made a difference in their communities, across the nation and throughout the world.
Latina Trailblazers
The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.
Sonia Sotomayor
In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor broke boundaries by becoming the first Latina, and the third woman, to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the country. Sotomayor was born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents. She grew up in the Bronxdale-Houses, a public housing project in the Bronx. Through perseverance and determination, she received degrees from Princeton University and Yale Law School. As a Supreme Court Justice she has ruled to uphold the Affordable Care Act and legalize same-sex marriage.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Margaret Villa broke gender barriers in the 1940s as one of the few women professional baseball players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The AAGPBL was started at the onset of World War II to keep baseball in the public eye during the war. In her baseball career, Villa set records for RBIs (runs batted in) and total bases in the game.
Margaret “Marge” Villa
Ellen Ochoa
What everyone in the astronaut corps shares in common is not gender or ethnic background, but motivation, perseverance, and desire.
Ellen Ochoa
In 1993 Dr. Ellen Ochoa became the first Latina to go to space when she flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Her inspirational journey includes a 30-year career with NASA and serving as Johnson Space Center’s first Hispanic director. As a physicist and astronaut, she has inspired many to follow in her footsteps.
Custodio was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and served in the United States Air Force for 24 years. She made history as the first Latina US Military pilot.
Olga E. Custodio
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Born in Cuba, Ros-Lehtinen became a trailblazer as the first Latina elected to the US Congress. She served as a representative from Florida from 1989 to 2019.
Olivia Cadaval is a Latina ethnographer and former program curator for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Cadaval has made history here at the Smithsonian as a Latina trailblazer.
Olivia Cadaval
Latina Leaders
Anesta Samuel
S. Anesta Samuel grew up in the Panama Canal Zone. Her father moved from Montserrat to work on the canal. The U.S.-controlled Canal Zone was racially segregated, and Black Caribbean workers were paid lower wages. As a teenager, Samuel rejected this system and opened her own beauty salon. In 1950, she immigrated to Brooklyn, New York. There, she founded a scholarship organization for Panamanian students, called Las Servidoras (later renamed The Dedicators).
Nina Otero-Warren – A Latina suffragist, Nina Otero-Warren served as head of the New Mexico chapter of the Congressional Union and helped to run bilingual campaigns for the vote.
Nina Otero-Warren
Adela Vázquez
Adela Vázquez is a Cuban transgender HIV/AIDS activist. She left Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift. Vázquez eventually settled in San Francisco. Her activism began with supporting trans women who were battling AIDS. Vázquez later joined the staff at Proyecto ContraSIDA Por Vida (Project for Life Against AIDS). Proyecto (1993–2005) was a Latinx HIV-prevention organization in San Francisco’s Mission District.
We as women should shine light on our accomplishments and not feel egotistical when we do. It’s a way to let the world know that we as women can accomplish great things!
Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta is an activist, feminist, and labor organizer. Huerta’s upbringing in Stockton, California – surrounded by diverse cultures – influenced her career fighting for the rights of many. She co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) Union, and coined the popular phrase, Sí, se Puede (Yes, we can).
Dolores Huerta
Casilda Luna
Casilda Luna, shown here with her grandson, is a community builder and activist in Washington, D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. Luna immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 1962. She soon began organizing weekly community gatherings which grew into discussions about social issues her community faced. Luna rallied her neighbors and the local Latino community around topics such as fair housing and care for senior citizens. In December of 2021, at 97-years-old, she won the Oscar de la Renta Dominican Emigrant Award.
No one is going to have quality of life unless we support everyone's quality of life.
Helen Rodríguez-Trías
Latinas and Latinos have long fought for civil rights. Puerto Rican physician Helen Rodríguez-Trías (1929–2001) was one of them. A reproductive rights and public health advocate, she worked to increase access to quality healthcare for women and children. She also fought to abolish forced sterilization. She was the first Latina to serve as president of the American Public Health Association. In 2001, she received a Presidential Citizen’s Medal for her work in public health and AIDS advocacy.
Helen Rodríguez-Trías
Sylvia Rivera
Latina and Latino boundary breakers have shaped U.S. history. Latino groups have fought for fair labor practices, education access, safe housing, Immigration and criminal justice system reform, and LGBT rights, among other issues. Puerto Rican-Venezuelan activist Sylvia Rivera (1951–2002) stands (left) outside New York City Hall with fellow activist Marsha P. Johnson. They fought for gay and transgender communities in New York City, focusing on issues like homelessness and employment. Rivera loudly criticized racism and economic exclusion within the LGBT community.
Latina Artists, Actors, and Designers
Judy Baca
Judy Baca envisions community murals as public spaces for retelling history and including everybody’s stories. In 1976, she founded the Social and Public Art Resources Center (SPARC). SPARC’s first project involved young people as co-creators of one of the largest murals in the United States—The Great Wall of Los Angeles. Baca’s artworks represent the stories not just of Mexican Americans, but all the people who have contributed to U.S. history but have been disenfranchised from it, including African and Asian Americans, Indigenous peoples, and others. She is deeply interested in creating equitable public spaces that honor community memories and uplift neighbors.
Raised in Venezuela, Carolina Herrera arrived in the United States with her family in 1980. Inspired by her European travels and attendance at fashion shows, she launched a clothing brand in New York just one year later, in 1981. The fashion designer’s brand continues to be known for timeless, stylish pieces.
Carolina Herrera
Ana Mendieta
A Cuban-American performance artist, Ana Mendieta created a range of artistic works that drew from her experience of exile and displacement. She used photography, film, video, drawing, and more to craft groundbreaking and transformational pieces.
Costello’s decades-long career included performances on Broadway, in films, in nightclubs, and more. Her electric and passionate style paved the way for future generations of Latina performers.
Diosa Costello
America Ferrera
I realized how Latina I was, and then also, at the same time, how not Latina enough I was, because I’m born and raised in Los Angeles. I speak Spanish, but I don’t speak perfect Spanish, not like a native speaker.
America Ferrera
Ferrera has had an acclaimed career so far as an actress, producer, and director. She has received numerous awards for her work, including an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents, Ferrera has been an advocate for increased Latina representation in the media throughout her career.
Latina Musicians and Writers
Celia Cruz
Referred to as the “Queen of Salsa,” Cruz was an instrumental part in growing the popularity of salsa music, and her wide fan base helped to shine a spotlight on Latino music in the United States. Throughout her career, Cruz received many honors, including the President's National Medal of Arts. At the 2016 Grammys, Cruz was given a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award.
there are a lot of men who don't think that women can get the attention of the public. But ...wrong!
Selena
Known as the “Queen of Tejano,” Selena(link is external) was instrumental in opening doors for future generations of Latino musicians. She began performing Tejano music with her Mexican-American family at a very young age. In 1994, she became the first Tejano artist to win a Grammy. Despite her untimely end, Selena had a very accomplished career that continues to inspire generations of musicians and fans.
Selena
Lola Rodríguez de Tió
Rodríguez de Tió inspired revolutionaries as a poet, feminist, and political activist. She was a strong champion for the independence of Puerto Rico and wrote the original lyrics of the Puerto Rican revolutionary anthem.
I have to understand my ancestors—my father, his mother and her mother—to understand who I am.
Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros - A National Medal of the Arts recipient, Cisneros is a leading Latina voice in literature. She is also a pioneer in the industry, in 1995 she became the first Latina to be named a MacArthur Fellow.
Sandra Cisneros
Luisa Capetillo
Luisa Capetillo (1879–1922) was a Puerto Rican of European descent. Before Luisa turned twenty, the United States took control of Puerto Rico after Spain lost the Spanish-American War.
Capetillo was an organizer and feminist, she worked with the Free Federation of Workers. This important Puerto Rican labor organization was founded in 1899. Capetillo connected with workers by reading in tobacco factories. During the early 1900s, she rejected gender norms and supported labor strikes. Capetillo also published books and edited the magazine La mujer (The Woman).
The “Merci Suarez Changes Gears” author, Meg Medina, received a Newbery Medal in 2019 and has shared that her writing is influenced by her Cuban heritage. Medina currently serves as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature at the Library of Congress. Through this position, she will engage readers across the country with her platform “¡Cuéntame!: Let’s talk books.”
Meg Medina
Encarnaciόn Pinedo
So that the value of a woman’s work is always recognized . . .
Encarnaciόn Pinedo
Cooking and preserving old recipes can be a powerful way to express identity and preserve cultural heritage. Encarnación Pinedo (1848–1902) grew up during the mid-1800s in California’s Santa Clara Valley. Her family, like many Californios, lost land, wealth, and privilege after the Mexican-American War. Nonetheless, Pinedo dedicated herself to cultivating her culinary and writing talents. She published El cocinero español (The Spanish Cook) in San Francisco in 1898. Pinedo's Mexican, Spanish, and Basque recipe collection preserved Californio culture by way of food.