Lupe Anguiano Archive Event

Lupe Anguiano Archive Event

Lupe Anguiano and Gloria Steinem.

Photo by Reed Hutchinson

Monday, March 12, 2007, 7:30-8:30 pm

Korn Hall, UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Reception following program

Celebrate Lupe Anguiano’s life in service to human rights, women’s rights, and the protection of the environment, with Gloria Steinem, Keynote Speaker, and Henry Cisneros. This event was sponsored by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center & the Center for the Study of Women, and the program was made possible in part through the generous support of TELACU.

Lupe Anguiano , an indefatigable champion of social justice, is widely known for her work on women’s rights, the rights of the poor, and the protection of the environment. A former nun, Ms. Anguiano was a national organizer for the United Farm Workers and the founder of the National Women’s Employment and Education Model Program, which helped single female parents move beyond welfare poverty. She is a founding member of the National Women’s Political Caucus, along with Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug, and has worked on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment. Ms. Anguiano was a delegate to the historic “First National Women’s Conference” in Houston in 1977, where she, Jean Stapleton, and Coretta Scott King read the “Declaration of American Women.” She currently volunteers at the California Coastal Protection Network, the Pacific Environment, and other environmental organizations. She has received numerous awards for her humanitarian work. Ms. Anguiano’s collection is the cornerstone of the new CSRC Mujeres Archive Initiative, which aims to preserve and make accessible the lives and histories of path breaking Chicanas and Latinas.

Coverage

Chicano studies center salutes crusader for women's rights

UCLA Today March 20, 2007

El Día de la Mujer Latina: logros y retos

La Opinion March 9, 2007

Lupe Anguino: A Tireless Warrior Woman

New York Post March 12, 2007

UCLA opens the archive of former nun turned political activist

Los Angeles Times March 19, 2007

Lupe Anguiano una activista incansable

La Opinion March 15, 2007

Oxnard activist inducted into UCLA archive

Ventura County Star March 14, 2007

Henry Cisneros, Barbara Carrasco, Barbara Gamboa, Chon A. Noriega, Lupe Anguiano, Gloria Steinem, Kathleen McHugh

Harry Gamboa page

March 12, 2007

UCLA Press Release

Opening of the Lupe Anguiano Archive at UCLA Celebrates a Life Devoted to Social Justice

See the original press release and images here.

Her name might not be as familiar as those of Gloria Steinem or Henry Cisneros, two luminaries who will visit UCLA this month to honor her. But make no mistake: Lupe Anguiano has impacted the feminist and Chicano rights movements in a way few others have.

Anguiano's colleagues, friends and family will be on hand at UCLA on Monday, March 12, to celebrate the opening of her archive, the first addition to the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center's new Mujeres Initiative. The initiative identifies, preserves and makes accessible the history and culture of Chicanas and Latinas in the United States, rescuing materials that are at risk of being lost or destroyed.

The event, which coincides with Anguiano's 78th birthday, will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Korn Hall at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

"As many people have noted, Lupe Anguiano is truly an unsung heroine of the American civil rights movement," said Chon Noriega, director of the Chicano Studies Research Center. "Lupe's decades-long efforts on behalf of women, the poor and the environment are extremely significant, and we are honored that she has chosen the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center to archive such an important history."

Anguiano's archive includes photographs, personal letters and articles highlighting her work as an activist. The collection will trace the path Anguiano embraced to fight for justice and will make her personal history accessible for future generations.

"Our center has long recognized the enormous value of Chicanas and Latinas in our society and culture, and we are honored to inaugurate the Mujeres Initiative with the archives of such an outstanding activist and luminary, Lupe Anguiano," Noriega said.

Anguiano is credited with bringing religious support to the women's rights movement, as well as to environmental and poverty issues nationwide. A former nun, she helped reframe religious debates to include discussions of women's rights and social justice.

Well known for her criticism of and activism on behalf of welfare policies, she founded organizations to assist women in gaining equal training and access to employment.

Along with noted feminists Steinem and Bella Abzug, Anguiano was one of the founders of the National Women's Political Caucus. All three were also key activists in the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment.

"Lupe was already a unique leader," said Steinem of her first meetings with Anguiano in the early 1970s. "She had come from a migrant family, fought to get an education, joined a religious community for a dozen years and then had the courage to leave when its conservative leaders opposed her civil rights activism."

Anguiano, who lives in Oxnard, Calif., also has focused on issues of bilingual education, resources for single mothers and workers' rights. She is currently involved in environmental justice organizations such as the California Coastal Protection Network, which opposes drilling, fossil fuel drainage and general pollution on the coasts of California.

At the March 12 event, Steinem will deliver the keynote address, which will focus on her work and friendship with Anguiano.

Steinem is an internationally known feminist writer, journalist and speaker devoted to contemporary women's issues related to race, class and sexuality. She co-founded New York magazine in 1968 and Ms. magazine — one of the most widely distributed feminist news sources in the country — and has written several best-selling books. Steinem's work has been highly influential within the feminist movement.

Steinem helped found a number of women's rights organizations, including the Women's Action Alliance, an educational center; Voters for Choice; and the Ms. Foundation for Women, a fund that supports grassroots projects to empower women. She also helped establish the national Take Our Daughters to Work Day and is currently working with Smith College, her alma mater, on a project to document the grassroots origins of the women's movement in the United States. Steinem co-founded and serves on the board of the Women's Media Center, which strives to ensure that women and their experiences are reflected in the media.

Cisneros, a longtime friend and colleague of Anguiano, will deliver the closing remarks. The former U.S. secretary of housing and urban development (1993–97), he is the chairman of CityView, a company that works with homebuilders to develop neighborhoods that offer affordable homes in urban areas. In 1981, he was elected mayor of San Antonio, Texas, becoming the first Latino to lead a large American city.

Cisneros was president of Univision Communications, the Spanish-language media company, and is past president of the National League of Cities. He currently serves on the board of several organizations, including Latino Public Broadcasting.

The Anguiano event is sponsored by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the UCLA Center for the Study of Women.

The Chicano Studies Research Center is known internationally for its innovative research projects, grants and fellowship programs; its extensive archive and library holdings; and its scholarly publications. The center's archive includes collections from the Mexican Museum, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico Julian Nava, photographer Laura Aguilar and the Comisión Femenil de Los Angeles.

The Center for the Study of Women is an organized research unit dedicated to the study of women and gender. Its mission is to reach across disciplines to foster a community of scholars studying women and gender. To further its goal, the center provides research funds for faculty, affiliated scholars and students.

Woman lauded for activism

Work made her part of Johnso nadministration

By Charles Levin, Ventura County Star
March 3, 2007

In the 1930s, priests ventured into the remote prairie town of Hoehne, Colo., only once a month to say Mass. But that didn't stop Lupe Anguiano from absorbing her Roman Catholic faith.

In the absence of a cleric, Anguiano's mother gave the family religious instruction. Over time, those studies affirmed Anguiano's philosophy of helping those in need.

Now 78, Anguiano is reaping praise for a life spent advocating for the poor, empowering welfare clients and defending the environment.

On Monday, state lawmakers will recognize the Oxnard resident as the 35th Assembly District Woman of the Year. Last week, the Oxnard City Council offered similar kudos in a resolution. And this week, the Santa Rosa-based National Women's History Project acknowledged Anguiano along with 13 other honorees during its annual salute to Women's History Month.

The festivities also include opening the Lupe Anguiano Archives at UCLA on March 12. Gloria Steinem, the feminist icon and Anguiano's longtime friend, will deliver the keynote speech.

"I don't know," Anguiano said recently when asked about the flurry of attention. "I've just been at the right place at the right time."

Anguiano said no single event steered her toward a philosophy of service and activism - just her ongoing faith.

"Blessed are those who thirst for hunger and justice," Anguiano, a former nun, said, quoting Jesus Christ. "I think our Lord is asking me to deal with all the gifts he is giving me."

Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, selected Anguiano for the annual state honor partly because of her opposition to a proposed offshore liquefied natural gas terminal.

From a family of farmworkers

Anguiano was born in La Junta, Colo., the fourth of six children. Her father, a descendant of Mexican Indians, worked for the railroad. The family lived in company housing. Summers were spent in Saticoy, Fillmore and San Jose, where the family picked fruit and walnuts.

"My father would say, 'All work is dignified,' " Anguiano said.

The family moved to Saticoy when she was in third grade. A year after graduating from high school, she joined a convent and earned several college degrees.

Fifteen years later, she left the convent, emboldened by Pope John XXIII's proclamation that "nuns and priests should stop hiding behind rectory walls and go out and serve the people," she said. "And boy, that was my ticket. That was my call to action."

She was also upset when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles ordered priests and nuns to stay out of the political fray over Proposition 14. Approved statewide by a 2-1 majority of voters, the 1964 initiative prevented state and local governments from enacting fair housing legislation. Real estate interests pushed the initiative, angered by a state law that banned racial discrimination at publicly funded apartments and homes.

Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the initiative as unconstitutional.

Off to Washington

Anguiano's devotion to ending poverty and creating employment took her to Washington, D.C., where she served in President Johnson's administration, and to Michigan, where she helped organize a grape boycott for Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.

Steinem first learned of Anguiano when she was organizing welfare mothers in San Antonio around 1970. Anguiano's efforts to move women off welfare and into jobs took root in seven states, including California and ultimately Ventura County.

"I saw personally what a life force she is: impassioned, charismatic, well-informed and effective," Steinem wrote this week in an e-mail to The Star.

But her life in activism is not over. Beyond her front door, she sees a world in crisis. She called the Iraq war "senseless" and worries about genocide in Sudan.

Anguiano also is focused on stopping a proposal by BHP Billiton to build a floating liquefied natural gas terminal 13.8 miles off the coast of Oxnard. Like other opponents, Anguiano contends the project would pollute air and marine wildlife. She works closely with the Coastal Protection Network, run by Susan Jordan, Nava's wife.

"Even if you're not a believer, we have a responsibility to take a stance," Anguiano said of these issues. "The dignity of humankind is at stake here."