Comrades as Midwives
In 1972, Maria Mangual and Adelia Hurley, both Chicana/Latina mothers from Chicago attend the Adelante Mujeres Conference in South Bend Indiana, meeting other Chicana/Latinas from seven other states. Both women return to Chicago, fired up at the fellowship and solidarity (we are all caught up in the same web—Olga Villa), energized to create action. Maria Mangual will engage a group of women to start Mujeres Latinas en Accion, at first to help at risk teenage girls. Adelia Hurley, will return from South Bend and engage a group of women, to start El Hogar Del Nino Day Care Center in Pilsen, one of the first bilingual daycare programs in the country.
In 1967 in El Paso, Las Madres del Segundo, the grandmother and mothers of Segundo Barrio, knew their children needed affordable bilingual health care services closer than the hospital, many (find out the distance) miles from their predominantly Mexican neighborhood. They found a basement apartment in a housing project called Los Seis Infiernos (The Six Hells) in their barrio, convinced the landlord to donate the space, got several husbands to donate the labor to put up walls, electrical, and plumbing to create the first people’s health clinic, Centro De Salud Familiar La Fe. Today, La Fe has three health centers in the El Paso, TX area. The main campus, still in Segundo Barrio, provides a variety of affordable health and wellness services, along with a dual language elementary school.
