Betita Martinez (2019)

Melanie Cervantes
Digital graphic, March 2019 Created for International Working Women’s Day

Today, I want to take time to recognize Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez. This portrait celebrates a Chicana feminist whose work throughout the decades has been an inspiration me and so many others in my community.

Betita was the first Chicana in SNCC (the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), a founder of El Grito del Norte newspaper and was a prolific writer who shared prodigious ideas with the world. Betita provided a link between the Black Power and Chican@ movements in the 1960s. She was active as a participant and reporter on many Chican@ political events and issues throughout the rise of the Chicano civil rights movement. She was the editor and author of several books including 500 Years of Chicana Women’s History.

Betita is a trailblazer and taught so many of us important lessons, through her example, about internationalism and solidarity. #BetitaTaughtMe