Jovita Idar was once an activist who fought for Mexican Americans all the way through the time of segregation. Decades later, she’s set to be the first Tejana to be featured on U.S. Currency.
She was once born in Laredo in 1885 and spent the second one part of her lifestyles on San Antonio’s West Side.
Daniel Lopez is Jovita Idar’s descendant.
“It’s not every day you get to be related to somebody who’s on American currency,” Lopez stated. “These are stories we grew up with. We didn’t learn about Jovita in school or in articles. We heard about her growing up in our family.”
Lopez is hoping extra other people will find out about Idar’s legacy now that the U.S. Mint and the Smithsonian made her a part of the American Women’s Quarter Program, making her the first Tejana featured on U.S. Currency.
She was once a journalist, activist and suffragist that advocated for the rights of Mexican Americans.
“She talked about everything — the lynchings, the discrimination that was going on, the school segregation, the just the unfairness of the social structure of that time period. Very courageous for the time,” Historian Gabriela Gonzalez stated.
In the early 1900s, San Antonio was once experiencing the tuberculosis endemic and town’s West Side wasn’t a part of town’s sanitation machine, which allowed illnesses there to unfold more straightforward.
“She worked at the Robert B. Green Hospital, which was the charity Hospital on the West Side. They had a lot of tuberculosis patients there. So she was a translator and she also taught classes and sanitation to try to help people stay healthy in those environments,” Sarah Gould, with the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute, stated.
Idar wrote a e-newsletter about why ladies must vote and turn into skilled.
“She said her famous quote is, ‘When you educate a woman, you educate a family,’” Gould stated.
Lopez now hopes extra other people will dig into their very own circle of relatives historical past.
“Just start asking questions because you might find a Jovita throughout history,” Lopez stated.
On Sunday, there might be a birthday celebration for Jovita Idar at Market Square from midday to 4 p.m..
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