ChicanaDiasporic: A Nomadic Journey of the Activist Exiled

Chicana 1975

1975 NWPC biennial conference in Boston elects Audrey Rowe Colom, a Black Republican as chair, and Rhea Mojica Hammer, a Chicana as vice chair. The number of vice chairpersons has expanded from three to five. The Chicana Caucus elects its first chairperson, Olga Soliz, a centrist businesswoman from Houston. The NWPC conference is occurring at the same time as the International Women’s Year (IWY) Conference in Mexico City, Mexico. Most of the founding members of the NWPC are at the higher profile conference in Mexico City. As the leadership of the political arm of American feminist movement finds out about the new face of the NWPC their unofficial response is to ask, “how did you let that happen?”

1975 IWY Mexico City is also the moment in the American Feminist movement where Black, Native and Chicana/Latina women voice the significantly different opinions from white women on what issues should be at the forefront of their collective movement. Chicana/Latinas meet women from Latin America, become aware of the oppressive military regimes in a number of Central and South American countries, including the tortures of Chilean women under Pinochet. Chicanas realize a solidarity with the  social justice issues of Latin American women finding similarities in oppressions and outcomes. Many Chicanas develop a global perspective characterized by language and third world ideology, and distance themselves from the frustrating outcomes experienced in supporting the platform of American Feminism--the most significant issue is the failure to pass the ERA in many states.

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